New Britain herald., 1928-04-23

Going over Wilkins story of th' flight systematically, Stefapsso, traced his course and concluded tha visibility would have allowed the 'llers to see any or all of these lanl masses if they had existed.
 Reported Century Ago | keonan land was reported moro than halt d century ago by New l England whaling captain, who thought he had seen mountains a i location.
 | Harris land was deduced by the late br k. A. Harris of the United States coast and gcodetic survey, i from tidal observations. as an island of almost continental size. but it was never reported as having been sighted.
 When Stefansson and Wilk fns spent five years from 1918 to 1917 i'll the Arctic. they found conditions north of Borden Island which led them to conclude that they were ap- preaching undiscovered land. Illness Of two of Stefansson's three sled companions obliged him to turn back Lefore he could verify or disprovc his belief.
 Others Reported Land
 pr. Cook, who in 1909 announce ed that he had reached the north pole, only to have his claims disal- lo,, }o1 .3.G 1 cry Of land about S4 degrees north latitude and l05 degrees west lonGi- ture. The late Admiral Robert l.. Hcary. accepted as the actual dis coyercr of the pole, thought he had seen land moro than 100 miles the north tip of Heibers Island.
 Stefansson said that the inference that none of these lands really eX- isted. which he drew from Wilkins failure to sight them, was Corrobor ated by various partial explorations
 Starred April 15
 spitzbersen, By Way of Copen- hagen, Denmark, April 23 LI, - (By Exchange Telegraph, Scandi- navian Rights Reserved)-Captain George H. Wilkins started from Point Barrow. Alaska, on Sunday. April IS at 10 o'clock in the morn- ir .;. Alaskan time.
 The starting place had to be al- tered as the runway proved too short for the heavily loaded machine whose cargo was about 4,050 pounds, thus requiring a runway at least a mile and a quarter long. The ma chine needed a speed of 50 miles an hour before it was able to rise. A new runway was covered with loose snow and this trodden down for a. width of only five feet so that exact was necessary to avoid crash. The ice also had to be leveled. He sighted Grant Land and passed about 300 English miles east of the North Pole. The weather was fine with little fog.
 Flew at 1000 Feet
 Throughout the trip he maintain cd an average altitude of 1000 feet, but at times it was necessary to as- cend to $500 feet to get above the banks of clouds. He sighted no land that had not been discovered and there were no signs of animal life on the ice.
 Captain Wilkins succeeded in talk ing observations 200 miles from svalbard (spitzbergen). but the visi- bility then became too bad. Ap- Svalbard the first sight of land was when he saw the two pointed peaks of Prince Karl Prom- ontory.
 Violent Storm Ragcs
 A violent storm was raging at the inc and Captain Wilkins had to make hurried attempt to land. This 1 vas made exceedingly difficult and dangerous by sudden gusts of wind, ,ut a landing eventually was made lcar a boat in the ncighborhood of Dead Mans Island. The airplane anne to a standstill after a run of 1 lbout 30 feet in loose snow. The airmen then had been flying 1 T hours at a speed of moro than % miles an hour. For steering purposes Captain Wilkins found the ordinary magnetic l very useful and in addition lsnd a sun compass. He had been with a special map of the 1 polar region by the American Geo. ,raphical Society, but was able only 1 0 get a very rough map of Spitz- bergen. Consequently the naviga- ion of the plane was remarkable in jew of it's landing in Syalbard, only bout five miles south of Kings Bay. he place originally decided upon nd where Captain Wilkins expected 0 meet the Italian explorer. Gcncr- ! Tmbcrto Mobile. The captain had 'lanncd 10 inform General Mobile, ' ho intends to fly his dirisible Italia yer the North Pole. of his esperi- nccs in his own passage across the 'olar region and the route he had ollowed. This would have helped ;encral Mobile in selecting his own o,lte in areas where hitherto no ircraft had been flown.
 Held Up j Days Captain Wilkins and Lieutenant ! .iolson were held up more than five lays on Dead Mans Island by a torm of unusual severity for this lme Of the year. Snow was falling lnost continuously and the high
 Notice
 THERE WILL BE \
 DT-DT AITINTInN