New Britain herald., 1929-11-30
BYRD C0NQUERS
 ANTARCTIC CHILL;
 SCARS OVER POLE
tContinucd From First Pase)


 being the only man 10 fly over both poles of the north.
 By bending to the use of his cour- age and skill the tools supplied by modern mechanical and scientific progress, he achieved within three and one-half years what no other polar explorer has accomplished in q lifetime, visits to tn. top and bot- tom of the globe
 Flying 10 tho South Pole he did in less than a day what it had pre- Niously taken more than three months to accomplish.
 Conqucrs Great Difficulties
 The Antarctic flight was bcset with difficulties far greater than those encountered in Byrd's trip 10 the North Pole which was made May 2. 1926. The distance of each flight vas about the same, 1,G0O miles.
 On the flight to the North Pole and back, made in 15 hours, 30 minutes, there was no stop.
 Commander Byrd navigated his plane to and from the South Pole over a jagged mountain chain with the sentinel-like peaks that rise anywhere from 10000 to 15,O00 feet. The Antarctic is mostly bar ren of plant life and without human inhabitants and even animals, due to its severe climate Even in sum- mer which is at hand there now, there are no inhabitants. Tn the Arctic there are Eskimos and sum- mcr vegetation
 Byrd flew from Spitzbergen 10 the North Pole over floating ice fields rising only few feet above sea level. with here and there open leads of water. From the edge of the southern ice barrier he flew 400 miles over an accumulation Of ice rising 150 meet or more above the sea and solid as land and then scared over mountains to the polar plateau and back again.
 Triumph of Science
 Byrd's flight 10 the South Pole is a striking demonstration of the conquest of modern methods of travel and communication of dis tance and other physical obstacles encountered in polar cxplora ton when compared with similar feats accomplished by older methods.
 Byrd Grasps Opportunity
 That waJ the reason Donald R McMillan returned from the Arctic in 1926 and annornced that the plane had rot been shown 10 be practical for Arctic exploration.
 Byrd had been along with Me Milan, and he saw that there was hl5 opportunity tho aging scientist continued. He understood why Amundsen, fighting those icy wastes year earlier, had been com-clled 10 land to make his computations. And Byrd knew the hardship and peril and failure that landing cost the Amundsen expedition
 Not long afte" Byrd explained the difficulty, Littlehales Saw it all at once, he said. It occurred to him that the computations Amundsen and others had attempted to make as they went along could be prcpar- ed in advance.
 This he worked out, in columns ot hgur's four to the page and so pages long. He called theeo con- putations nautical almanac"
 The long sunless winter on the Antarctic from March until October vas spent at the base protecting themselves and their stores from the bitter cold and terrific storms of the region Activity was resumed a few weeks ago and came to climax in the historic flight over the South Pole which was begun Thanksgiving day and ended ycstcr- day.
 Balchen. June With Byrd
 Bernt 6alchen. who was a pilot on Commander Byrd's transatlantic Hlght Tn June, 1927, piloted the huge trl-motored plane. Floyd Bennett, in which the flight was made.
 Harold June. navy pilot and petty officer, on leave for the ex- petition was the radio operator. C5ptain Ashley C. Mckinley. an aeriaI photographer Of St. Louis. vas the fourth member Of the party.
 The sun compass, designed by Al bort II. Bumstead. chief cartoera- pher of the National Geographic so- clety. which Commander Byrd was the first to use on his flight to the North Pole and which he gave much credit for the accuracy of hts naNi- gdtion vas part of the equipment on the South Pole flight.
 Beside Byrd and Amundsen only one other explorer has reached the South Pole. Captain Robert r. Scott, British explorer, reached the Pole January IS, 1912, about a month after Amundsen. He and his party perished in a blizzard on their return trip about March % when within 155 miles of their base.
 Washington Praises Flight
 Washington, Nov. 30 P-Wash- ington today marvelled at Comman- der Richard F.. Bvrd's hazardous and successful flight over the icv wastelands Of the South Pole and eHtolled the courage and adventur- ous enthusiasm of the still-youthful explorer.
 From all sides came expressions Of amazemen- at the extraordinary success Of the exploit, praise for the ralor Of Commander Byrd and his associates and optimistic predictions Of the scientific value Of the flight.
 Hoover Congratulates
 President Hoover lost no time in transmitting his congratulations to Byrd. far away al his base In Little America. Through the New York Times, the chief executive sent a radio message telling the leader of the expedition Of the universal pleasure Of the American people