Imperial Valley press., 1928-08-21
HASSELL
NOT YET
REPORTED
Air To Be Cleared So
Possible Message May
Be Heard. :,
FRIENDS HOPEFUL
Assertion That Call Of
Distress Heard Remains
Unverified. ~
by United Press Leased Wire


WASHINGTON, Aug. 21.--A gem
oral clearing of the ether was or.
dered today to permit Bert Hassell
and Parker Cramer, lost airmen
aboard the plane "Greater Rock
ford, to send distress signals if
still alive somewhere on their route
. to Greenland.
Meantime all departments of the
government united in the effort to
find the flyers and to enlist the aid
Of other nations in the search.
Clarence NJ. Young of the com.
merce department notified coast
guard headquarters that f. l.. Hull,
Stamford, Conn.,, amateur radio ope-
/ rator, picked up an sos call signed
! by the letter 4" r. about 1:3O a. m.
Sunday.
The call letters of the missing code
SINCE letters could be broadcast to
tell the plane position, Young said.
If this message were from the plane
, ITS position as indicated by the let
ter "R - would be about 75 miles
! from Cape Chidley.
The federal radio commission ask
I
Telegraph company to suspend un-
til further notice, its trans-oceanic
telephone station at Ocean Town
ship, y. J.
1t also asked the General Flee
! 0rlc company to suspend its station
at Oakland, California, and the
! Tropical Radio to reduce sending
from its station in Honduras, like
wise apt to interfere
NEW YORK, Aug. 21.-Four ma
tions combined today in an attempt
/ to locate Bert Hassell and Parker
y. tramer, missing now for more
than IS hours on their attempt to fly
to Greenland, while fears grew that
the men had persisted at sea.
The coast guard cutter Marion,
now is operating in Davis Straits,
J between Labrador and Greenland
and reported by radio that there
was slight probability the men still
were alive.
There was stiff northwest
gale Sunday and if the plane land
J ed ON the water, the chances are in.
! 1lhlteslmal that it could have re-
manned atloat more than n few
hours, regardless of its eonstruc-
tIon, message from the Marion.
intercepted by w. A. McClintock, q
local radio amateur, said tonight.
The Greater Rockford, which left
Rockford, Ill.,, Thursday on an at
tempted flight to Sweden, now has
long been exhausted of fuel. She
was land plane and not meant
for landing at sea, built fragilelv
and probably would have been
pounded hard by the northern wat
erS.
There was a chance-and it was
this chance that made Hassen's
friends hopeful-that the plane has
succeeded in the long flight over
the waterway between Labrador
and Greenland and had landed on
the island, some distance from
Mount Evans, the previously ar
ranged stop
Should this be the case il NAV
be days and weeks before the true
fate of the craft is known. There
are virtually no communications ON
Greenland save one or two small
radio stations.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2l.-New
heavy storms are approaching the
| area where the plane "Greater
Rockford is believed to be lost,
according to a radio received by
coast guard headquarters today
from the Cutter Marion.
The Marion searching for Bert
Hasscll and Parker Cramer, pilots
Of the missing plane, reported
storms are becoming frequent and
weather conditions were Nerv nn-