Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-27

The two flyers found anew problem
In heavy-load aviation gear today whicha
the experience of the various other
long distance flyers had not prepared
them for. 1t was the problem of gettingT
out of a valley with a heavily loaded
plane And heavy ground mist which'f
obstructed view Of details of the surface
was the factor that foiled them. >,
with good visibility we would have r
been able to pick the low points as We
fought for altitude on our way up out s.,
Of the valley. But. unfortunately, the
ground mist masked our view Of the
ground and we scraped into the top Of
a knoll that was just little too high
to. pull over" Cramer explained after
the crash 3i5astz
Both pilots are eager to try again. 4
We'll hop OF as soon as the ship is
prepared" Hassell said half an hour
after the mishap. e---{ita1
Backers Approve New Effort. ~
The committee which raised the
funds for the project as a community
venture of the City of Rockford Sec,
onded his resolution few hours later !.
by issuing statement of confidence
in the pilots and equipment and emstI
phasizing the intention Of carrying thec
flight through to q successful cons
clusion. o7f'3zaa an
1t was disappointing news that an
escort plane brought to Rockford Air-s
port is minutes after the take-ohs
almost before the cheers Of $4,000 per-s
sons, who had arisen before dawn tor
see the start, had ceased. ~ ~
The crowd had sensed the belief of
the pilots that II they successfully LETT
the long runway the worst Of the fghtr
was over. So when the Greater Rocks1
ford reared across the field. gaining mo@r
mentum foot by foot, and took the
air far short of the end Of the rur-t
way, the thousands broke into prose
longed cheers and started to leave thef
field, confident that the next newsa4
would be from some point well along
the route. The Greater Rockford had
disappeared into the haze that hung
low over the valley OF the Rock River,
but escorting planes could be seem
wheeling in the clear sky above. - Z
Escort Brings Report. srn
The approximate position Of Hasselist-
plane could be determined by the posi-.
ton Of lowering escorts as the Greater
Rockford started long swing to head
north into Canada. fr'T
Then one of the escorting planes
swooped down, followed by the others, .
and theys too, were lost In the haze, - y. !
A few minutes later one of the planeS{
landed back on the airport and the
low-yoiced report Of the pilot was car
riea from mouth ito; mouth across the
field.
"Hassell down, both unhurt." Almost
before the report had circled the field,
another plane, carrying Hasseli andA
Cramer. uninjured, landed on the air
port, where they treasured their relAsx
tives of their condition. Nothing hurt
but our feelings, said Hasself, and then
both he and Cramer plunged into dis
cussion of how to repair the damage
and get ready for another start before
weather conditions over the route should
become forbidding. '.,is.sg.sasis
Both aviators said the engine and.
plane performed perfectly, but that ther
haze complicated the problem Of get<e
ting the load up over the encirciingc
hills, and this was the sole cause OF the
mishap. sh W,
Backing Is Generous. 10
Hassell received several offers of finari-
cial backing for similar flight before
1t was announced that the community
leaders had voted to pursue the project
to success. So favorably has the plan
of Hassell to develop the great circle
route over Greenland impressed persons
interested in aviation that backing for
such a project seems not the problem
that Il was when first Rockford started
out to raise the fund for purchasing
the ship and financing the fight.
iCopyright 1881