Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-08
Pathfinder May Return, How
ever, if Check Shows Plane
Consuming Too Much Gas.
Good Progress Being Made.
ESCORT SHIP BELIEVED
DOWN, GAS EXHAUSTED
Navigator Will Aid New York
Meteorologist in Forecasting
Weather Conditions Over Ocean.
Trip of 4,700 Miles Expected to
Take As to so Hours.

Take As to so Hours.
GLOUCESTER, Mass, July 8
! R.-Lieut. L. M. Melka, pilot
of the Coast Guard plane ac-
/ companying the Old Orchard
to-Rome airplane Pathfinder,
reported the latter to be making
good headway in radio mes
sage received here.
Lieut.. Melka was believed by
officials of Base No. here to be
down off Portland, Me-, light
ship. his gasoline supply ex-
hauSted.
By the Associated Press.
OLD ORCHARD, Me-, July B.
Successful in their third attempt
to take off from the beach here,
Roger @. Williams and Lewis A.
Yancey were presumably winging
their way toward Rome in the
monoplane Pathfinder today.
There was possibility, however.
that the flight might be in the
nature of a test flight as Yancey
told Ben Zebor, his mechanic,
that if a careful check of gasoline
consumption the first few hours
showed they were using too much
fuel the plane would be brought
back.
The start, in contrast to the
other two, when the plane Green
Flash was damaged and finally
wrecked, was made in fog which
caused poor visibility. Williams,
pilot of the plane, however, took
the heavily laden ship from the
sands at 7:49 Eastern standard
time after a run of a little more
than a mile, cleared steel
amusement pier at an altitude of
100 feet and swung east in a wide
circle.
While still within sight of the watch
ers on the beach he circled to gain more
altitude and at a height of 500 feet
headed toward Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
Making Good Progress.
The first report as to the planes
progress came from Lieut.. L. M. Melka,
pilot of Coast Guard amphibian which
was to accompany the Pathfinder for
the first 100 miles. Twenty-Five min
afk VI hn
Cocst Guard station at Gloucester,
Mass, that the Pathfinder was making
good progress"
The flight was to be not only long
distance attempt, but readings were to
be made by Yancey, navigator of the
plane at a master mariner, to aid DR..
James H. Kimball, New York meteor
ologist, in forecasting weather conditions
over the Atlantic. DR.. Kimball has been
the unofficial starter of all transatlantic
flights, flyers waiting for a favorable
report from him before taking off.
Mrs. Yancey, worn by the many
nights of little sleep preparing for the
hop-off, returned to her room at hotel
here Immediately after the start and
left orders she was not to be disturbed.
The flyers estimated the distance to
Rome at 4,700 miles and hoped to reach
there in from As to so hours.
Favorable winds will aid the Rome
bound plane, although some fog will
BE- met until it is 1900 miles out, ac-
cording to DR.. Kimball. Relying on
these favorable tail winds, Yancy and
Williams had their fuel load cut from
500 to $50 pounds just before the start.
Thea Rasche Present.
Besides the Coast Guard amphibian,
a large commercial amphibian, carrying
Thea Rache, German aviatrix, and
several other friends of the flyers, ac-
companied the Pathfinder.
Williams and Yancey on their at
tempted take-offs with the Green Flash
had good visibility. On both occasions
the Yellow Bird, which reached Spain
in its proposed flight to Paris, was
alongside them.
The Green Flash was damaged on
both occasions. before it left the sand
the first time only a broken landing
wheel, the second time so badly that it
was hardly worth salvaging.
The commercial amphibian later re-
turned to the beach. Passengers said
miles, and that the plane then was
going fine" and gaining altitude
steadily.
Charles Ramsgate, New York attor-
nev and Williams business manager,
said the flyer just before the take-off
instructed him to ship all the Pathflnd-
er's equipment to Rome on the next
boat.
The pilot appeared confident that the
plane would make Rome, Ramsgate
said.
Course of Pathfinder.
The flyers planned to strike almost
due east to the tip OF Nova Scotia. There
they will head east southeast to the
Corner" the junction of steamship
lanes, about 1000 miles from Old
Orchard.
Their course will then follow the
forty-first latitude, passing 100 miles
north of the Azores and reaching the
mainland at Cape Ortegal, along the
Northern tip of Spain. They then plan
to cross Bayonne, France, and head
across the Mediterranean, passing over
the Island of Corsica.
Yancey said they planned to land at
an airfield about IS miles south OF
Rome. st am working man, and am
going out to do a days work." Yancy
said when newspaper men asked him
for some statement lust before the take
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