Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-17
BYRD IN AIRPLANE
VIEWS BROAD AREA
IN ONE-H0UR FLIGHT
Continued From First Page.)

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the least glory, should be the first ones
to fly today.
Benjamin Roth, detailed by the Army
Air Corps to accompany the expedition,
went up with Parker.
The pilot TAXED the plane far down
to one side over the slightly rough sur
face and the action of the skis and
landing gear was watched anxiously by
men who had worked over that problem
for months. The skis, 10 feet apart,
give a very broad landing gear. They
are fastened to stream lined supports
built up of welded tubing. They were
of new design and there was some
anxiety as to how they would work.
Parker finally opened the throttle, jerk
ed the tail of the machine off the snow
and started swaying across the uneven
down until the plane lifted and began
climbing slowly toward the barrier cliff
miles away.
Makes Easy Landing.
The other pilot and Byrd expressed
their qualification and watched as the
plane turned and headed inland toward
the base about nine miles away. Parker
had about $500 feet altitude by the time
he reached there and became a mere
speck in the sky when he turned and
came back He came down in fast
glide toward the watching group, barely
touched his mark and rapidly shot up
again. When he banked around and
landed the plane settled quickly and
easily, stopping in very short distance.
The landing gear had performed better
than even had been suspected. Babe
Smith, for years air mail pilot on the
night run between Cleveland and New
York, was the next to take up the plane.
With him he took Kennard Bubier.
Marine Corps mechanic, and the other
mechanic, who was with Byrd at Spitz-
bergen, Nick Demas. BY this time the
skis were smoother and it was
possible to tell how the plane would act,
so that Babe got 1t off in short order
and went sailing away to the south as
If he intended to reach the South Pole
all by himself. He turned in short
time, however. and came back, sailing
away fast and waving his hands as he
laughed at the crowd below. Half wing
over and few simple evolutionS and he
came down and dropped in an easy
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handled we'll on the snow and in the
air.
Bernt Balchen and Donald June, with
a Navy test and stunt pilot, climbed into
the machine with June at controls and
Balchen kneeling behind him.
Skis Given Excellent Test.
II want to see how those skis work
when we land" said Ba1chen, who has
done great deal of snow flying. June
took off very quickly and after a short
flight squashed the plane, stall land
ing. which gave the skis an excellent
test It did not give bit. Balchen,
who had been longing to get at the
controls. took up me and Teddy Bayer,
assistant engineer of the City of New
York. Balchen looks more like Daniel
Boone than a flying man, for he had
on a fur cap and an Indian soft leather
shirt with belt. He hauled himself into
the seat, grinned back at us and let
her go. Even an amateur could tell the
plane shot over the snow, climbing and
dropping over small hard snow mounds,
but as soon as a point near flying speed
was reached the unevenneSs OF the sur
face became hardly apparent and in
q very short distance we were climbing
and turning in wide arc up over the
sea.
Below was mass of black spots on
the snow which one knew were men and
the dogs engaged in unloading all the
gear, and ship which seemed too tiny
to hold all the many tons of freight
which had come out Of her. Balchen
circled her once and then. turned inland
and toward the south. It was not cold
inside despite the low temperature, and
Balchen had one window open few
inches most of the time. He leaned
back and pointed down. Far below
could be seen the trail toward the
barrier.
A few black specks below came into
sight-a dog sled Jogging its way toward
the ship slowly and with much exertion
while we slid swiftly by over head;
the old and the new way In which this
great continent Is being explored.
(Copyright. 1929. by the New York Times
and the st. Louis Post-Dispatch. All rights
for publication reserved throughout the
world
The birds most abundant In the