The Washington times., 1928-04-21
BARON, NEARLY BLIND, fought
tn GET MONEY FOR OCEAN HOP

scene OF these other difficulties Of
| which ! speak. was the Fatherland,
Germany. and they were Difficult.
ties which must be recounted In
| any historical story Of our flight.
So, today, ! will retrace my steps
and tell for the first time of those
Obstacles which KoehI and / en-.
countered il. arousing interest and
eniisting supr..'t for q flight over
the Atlantic Ocean from East to
West in the Bremen. I am mos.
happy to regard as write here in
the lonely lighthouse OF Gfeenly
where we are surrounded by some
hospitable friends. that we over
came those difficulties and that
now we have proven the correctness
of our conviction that the Bremen
could successfully span the Atlantic
from the Old World to the New.
Public ArdOr Cooled
The geratest difficulty that was
ours IS to overcome the public
opinion in Germany. That wave of
enthusiasm which swept over the
world like a great electric light at
the marvellous exploit OF your own
wonderful Lindbergh and subsidized
after many lives had been sacri-
feed in tbs unsuccessful effort to
fly across the or nan from the other
side.
In its place came q wave Of so
berness and caution. It was pro.
found in Germany. Great journals
urged strongly against further at
t npts to bridge this chasn1 OF the
air. Governments were implored to
take official action to prevent these
flights. Thus was public opinion
erected against US and our desire.
and the people stood opposed to
further sacrifices.
Captain Koehl and persisted In
our determination to make the
fIigF1t--to make Germany the first
nation OF the world to transport
human beings from Europe to
America In heavier than.air ma
chine. Despite our difficulties we
remained constant to our high re.
solve. We refused to b. turned
aside from our purpose by the cavil
and criticism of the press and the
people. For many months the Ger
man public considered Us as absO.
luteIy insane for our determination
to make this flight.
Regarded rs Madmen
To everyone. with the exception
OF 4 select circle OF friends and 4
few faithful newspapers, which Il.
ways remained faithful. Captain
Koehl and I were simply ! pair Of
madmen.
A a. e.
commonly known in modern pari.
ance as stair minded ana has
made great strides in all branches
OF aviation, we could not obtain
support for our enterprise, strive
as we might. But we despaired
never. In the teeth Of all these
obstacles, we pursued relentlessly
our determined course to lily the
Bremen to America.
Our vindication came when, here
on GreenIy Island, we read the
touching and kindly message from
the President Of your United States.
Then we knew that beyond the
ocean the idea Of our enterprise was
understood by the people OF
It was our first failure more
than anything else that determined
| U6 10 uleA&6 q DGGOIlu GAA0 u G0CN
cesful flight. During the summer
Of last year Captain Koehl and !
started from Dessau to cross the
Atlantic. On account OF frightfuI
storms which we met at the irish
west coast we were obliged to re-
turn to the starting point Of our
flight. The fall which came soon
or than usual, upset our plans
for the year 1927. But we did
not leave the months of the winter
rest unused.
Studied Junkers Plane
The great German genius, Profess
sor Junkers, the constructor and
inventor of the Bremen, had
created the supreme aeroplane. 1T
was at our disposal and we inn
proved the time by becoming bet
ter acquainted with the plane.
There is no question that, in final
effect, this plane IL far superior to
all aeroplanes existing at this time.
During all our flight in a frig1ltful
storm and fog over ireland and above
the ocean, the engine and the motor
OF the Bremen functioned az well
and safely in these cases of danger
as during the flight which took place
under favorable weather conditions
with the same type in July, 1927.
which gave Germany the worlds
record for continuous flying up to
that time.
Motor Vastly Improved
This superiority comes as a re-
suit Of the important improvement
in the compression ratio of the
motor, now increased to / to Z, in.
stead Of to S, as formerly. Why
should we not, in considerat ton Of
this great service of German
science and industry. take the risk?
This sober world, in its autago-
nism to further flights, did not know
and partly did not want to know,
that which was in our heart and
an absolute fact-namely, that there
Is only one machine in this world
which, at this moment, would make
possible that which seemed nearly
impossible.
This machine is Junkers w-33 L,
the Bremen.
But the Junkers factory in Des.
sau could not bring new sacrifices
after they had not succeeded in the
first trial. Consequently, we lad
to spare them those sacrifices and
arrange our own finances. 7 per.
sonally had from nature a verv
difficult obstacle for flying, which
! had done since 1913 with passion
and enthusiasm. I was already
fraiHaN Ia fha ~~wta- - 80.