Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-21
GRAF TO SAIL TODAY.
Craft Is Ready to Make Pacific Hop In
World Girdling Flight.

World Girdling Flight.
BY the Associated Press.
TOXIC, August 2l.-Final prepare
lions we're all but complete late today
for the take of Of the Graf Zeppelin,
giant German dirigible, at 4 am. to-
morrow q pm, Eastern standard time
today for its transpacinc flight to Los
Angeles.
Refueling was still under way and fin
ishing touches to slight repairs on the
balloon were being made, but gener-
ally speaking the ship was in readi-
ness for its round-the- world lap, . trip
expected to traverse $500 miles and to
occupy about 100 hours.
DR.. Hugo Eckener. the ships master,
who treats the take-on as no more
eventful than departure OF a ship from
New York Harbor. asked the passengers
to be ready to 60 aboard at am, a
fun two hours prior to scheduled de-
parture.
Route to Seattle.
He said today he expected to follow
the Northern Great Circle route to Sc
attic, possibly along the line of the
Aleutian Islands. following the Ameri-
can coast southwark to the Southern
California goal.
Japanese weather surveys of the
Western Pacific area, made by the me-
neurological service particularly for DR..
EcRener, showed not a single disturb
ance anywhere, with every prospect of
an easy trip across the Pacific, which
WIZ be the second ocean crossed by the
dirigible.
Thousands Of Japanese took adyan-
tage OF fair weather today to visit the
old German hangar at Kasumigaura.
where the Zeppelin is housed, to inspect
the craft, the like of which has never
been seen in Japan before. Most were
unrestrained In their enthusiasm.
Extensively Entertained.
Meanwhile. DR.. Eckener and his crew
continued their round of entertainments
at the hands Of Tokio's great, near great
and socially prominent. TIL: .oficers
have been so showered with gifts thew
VIII have to ship them home in crates
aDoara snip. having no room aboard
Possibly the greatest problem has
been the refueling which has Continued
almost since the hour the dirisible was
brought to the hangar. 1t was packed
with $4,000 cubic feet Of q new fuel.
plus load Of an older kind.
The new fuel was q mixture Of pyro.
fax combined with hydrogen in the
proportion Of 65 to IS. It replaces the
blau gas in Germany, but unobtainable
here, and will be sufficient for flying
four motors 100 hours. against the 100
DR.. Eeckener thinks likely.
The Japanese government has COM
pleted . contract with the company
fOr ~ 10 - GA.
and Friedrichshafen.
Should Arrive Saturday.
II the Graf averages as fast. o pass.
age over the Pacific as over Europe
and Asia, or approximately LOO miles
daily, she should reach American terri
tory by Saturday and sail over Los An
geleS early Sunday.
It was ofiicially indicated that DR..
Eckener intended to follow the great
circle steamship route northeast from
Kasumigaura. This would keep the
Graf over the steamer lanes from
Yokohama to Seattle and Vancouver
throughout the length of the vayage
across the ocean.
The big dirigible will probably pass
over both Seattle and San Francisco,
but will fiy nearly 1000 miles north
of the Hawaiian Islands.
IL mas Deen TcVealcQ LlaI III view
of the Crafts impressive and unexpected
speed record from LakehurSt TO Toxic.
the officers Of the Zeppelin were hopeful
of beating the record for travelling
around the world held by J. H. Mears
and c. B. D. Collyer, with % days
and Is hours. To do so the Zeppelin
must pass over the Statue of Liberty
by approximately 4 pm. August 81.
PASSENGER List.
The Crafts passenger list for the Pa
ciflc flight at present totals 10. Prof.
Karklan, the Russian geographer, and
three Japanese passengers leave the
Zeppelin here. Two japanese will be
added to the list Lieut.. Comdr. Ryuno-
Suke KuSaka of the Japanese naval gen.
eral staff, and Dofu Shirai, correspond
ent of q japanese news agency. Maj.
Shinichi Shibata Of the general stan OF
the army. may poin the Graf at the
Agents of the Hamburg-Ame
Line said they have rejected 40 appli-
cations for the transpaciflc passage at
$4,000 each.
Aviation experts aboard the Zeppelin
told the Associated Press correspondent
today that the flight from Friedrich
shafen to Toxic showed the airship'S
cruising radius to be so great that she
might have flown directly from Siberia
across the Pacific to America had she
not turned south for the Toxic stop.
The long fight from Germany to Japan
consumed less than three-fourths Of
the Crafts fuel load.