New Britain herald., 1929-01-08
Resting Aviators Reflect
Upon Their Long Flight
With Enthusiasm - Six
I Blankets for Five Men.

Los Angeles. Jan. Z @-vivid i'm
pressions Of the world record break
ting flight Of the Question Mark were
given last night by the four army
officers who with Stan Sergeant
mechanic Roy w. Hooe. had remain
cd in the air longer than any other
human beings.
Resting in q comfortable hotel
room. Major Carl Spatz was lying
on settee writing the final entry Of
the log. Captain Ira w. Eaker was
reclining In q single bed. Lieut..
Harry Halvorson. still in army toys
but with bedroom slippers, draped
himself over an easy chair. Lieut..
Elwood r. Quesada in q brown
checkered bathrobe, was on another
bed.
Their impressions follow:
BY Major Spatz, flight commander:
I'VE have refueled under every
conceivable condition under which
an airplane can hy-at night, in
rough air. shifting our base when
weather drove US away. in fog. in
sun-in fact under any conditions
which might be conceived. either In
transcontinental flights or In trans
oceanic flights.
Might refuelins IL not 10 bad. 1t
was worse. a whole lot worse. In the
rough bumps we had today. We
had no rain, but We had refueled in
rain at Washington.
"Our apparatus was proved. We
have made many important discover
les. With q longer hose. say 100
feet 1t would be far better.
I'VE have definitely established the
practicability Of refueling for COM
mercial planes.
I'VE expected better weather con-
ditions. We were told We could
reach smooth air at high attitudes,
but it was rougher at 5000 feet than
5000 feet.
I'VE have found that mechanical
conditions rather than the condition
of man IL the only limiting factor In
sustained flight.
1.-THE whole personnel was In bet
kCE NOHNAkAVu LILLE nVAAAn8 kAA@tt ~
any time during the flight In fact.
We had seven days of rest.
1.-THE longest period any man slept
in this flight was four hours. That
was due to routine. We all slept
Sunday. In daytime we slept better
for It was warmer. We were not
prepared for the cold. There were
only six blankets for our Ave men:
We had discarded our heater to make
room for = reserve gasoline tank.
"A remarkable condition was the
attitude Of the crew. Not . single
member Of the crew had anything
but smiles, not one got on another's
nerves. In cramped quarters with
parachutes on. we knocked each
other about, but there always was
. smile.
I'VE wers surprised at the loud
ness Of noises whom We landed. We
were astonished that We could hear
10 we'll.
1.-TWO men had slight physical dis
turbances. Captain Eaker had =
sore throat before he took of. Lieut.
Halvorson developed 4 cold.
I'VE found no conditions In this
flight that developed hardships upon
men,"
By Captain Ira ". Eaksr. chief
pilot:
"Our last two refuelings were on
two engines, and We knew We were
through. The left engine had gone
bad.
After the last contact va proppsd
the gas from one tank to enable Ser
geant Hooe to get on the catwalk to
change the valve springs.
I'VE we're at an altitude Of 1000
feet. but we dropped $500 feet on
the turn. We signalled Hooe to get
back.
ION two engines, We couldn't keep
our altitude and got ready to land.
The right engine began to show
trouble similar to tho left and We
were really depending on one engine.
I'VE knew we were coming down
then. The ship began settling and
1t was Just 4 question Of where We
would land. It settled $500 feet In
two and one half minutes. It takes
III HOuE " IC8dIu SildL utUShs
I'VE had no trouble in making the
field. The second motor seemed to
have bad plugs.
1.-THE crew had no reason to come
down. In fact I was asleep when
the refueling ship came up. 1t was
just question Of mechanics"
"Our darkest moment In the flight
was the night over Imperial Valley
and the flight down there. This was
the third night out Very rough,
descending currents. We lost hun
dreds OF feet in seconds. That loss
meant hours Of climbing.
Saturday night was still worse.
But in Imperial Valley we were
ready to land any place.
AT times our fel was low. 0ev-
eral times We had less than one
49,