The Nome nugget., 1928-08-04
NOME TO MADE DIRIGIBLE
 BASE.

exploration, and German authori- ties warned him against using it. This is the opinion of Dr. Walter Bruns, general secretary of the In- ternational Society for the Explor- ation of Polar Regions by means of the airship. generally known as 'aeroarctic." The society is par | ticularly interested. as several of it's members were with the Mobile expedition. Also. aeroarctic is it. self planning extensive polar ex- plorations next year in the LZ-127. the gigantic Zeppelin now nearing completion at Friederichshafen. This ship is six times as large as the Italia and even larger than the American Los Angeles.
 Ballast Is Reduced
 Tn spite of it's great sympathy towards the undertaking" Dr. Bruns said, "the aeroarctic has had from the very beginning, serious concern regarding the expedition, It was pointed out to Mobile that, after the wonderful flight of the sister ship the Norge too distant goal for new expedition this year should. above all things, be avoided for this very small type of air ship. We know from our Berlin conference with General Mobile that, because of the small size of the airship, the mass of the neces sary reserves of ballast Gin case the ship was covered with ice) and the polar equipment requisite for a possible forced landing had to be reduced greatly on account of the great distance.
 ''The small sped tabout fifty three miles an hour) of the airship required that General Mobile spend the month of April and the first half of May, the most precious time for polar work, awaiting favorable meteorological. conditions. Already the flight to Nicholas II Land (Len- inland had demonstrated that it was really too late for further un- dertakings because of the prevail ence of summer fogs. In addition to the unfavorable meteorological conditions, General Mobile had to fix the base of his operations at Kings Bay, in the Arctic itself, ow- ing to the small radius of action of his airship.
 Slow Speed Disadvantageous
 "The very favorable flight to the Pole justified the hope that the re- turn trip would be more propitious. Under good weather conditions the journey from Kings Bay to the Pole and back is no great undertaking for an airship. This, however. is not the case. in view of the small speed of the Italia, as soon as moderately strong contrary wind arises. That General Mobile on approaching Spitzbergen met with strong adverse winds is, from meteorological standpoint. not at all strange, since the region of Spitzbergen is in the area of storm paths which take their course from the North Atlantic along the Nor wegian coast and only gradually die out in the inner Arctic, i. e., become less dangerous for flights.
 ''Our society has therefore, as is generally known. held firmly to the opinion that the solution of Arctic problems should not be at tempted with too small an airship. In order to be independent of the especially unfavorable storm condi- tions of spitzbergen, one should. before all else. establish his base for Arctic explorations as far dis tant as possible from the Arctic. For this reason we plan for next years expedition anchorages in Leninegrad, and perhaps at Kola. and one at Nome, in Alaska. We wish also, in spite of the very great cruising radius of the new Zeppelin airship. which may be three times that of the Italia. to establish an- chorages on both sides of the Arc tic, in order to be approximately independent of meteorological con ditions during our journey cover- ing several days."- Seattle Times.