Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14


what caused the flyers to turn
back.
BY the Associated Press.
Indefinite wireless reports from
the Polish and French aviatorS
who took off from France yester-
day morning, ostensibly for New
York, last night indicated that the
race across the Atlantic is def
nitely off.
An air of mystery, however, in
jected itself in the situation as
ships at sea and coastal radio sta
tions continued to log messages
from the Question Mark and the
Marshal Pilsudski.
Dieudonne CoSte and his me-
chanic5 Bellonte, reported through
the Havas agency that the Cues
ton Mark had turned back to
France after reaching a point
north of the Azores last night.
A message, relayed to Paris via Lis
bon, said simply, Returning LIE
Bourget Started back 6:15 PM"
On the basis Of this message it was
expected the plane would reach LIE
Bourget about 10 o'clock a am. East
ern Standard time).
At Horta, in the Azores, a message
from Idzikowski and Kubala aloft in
the Polish plane, was picked up in
dicating they we're only SO kilometerS
away and wanted to land. -.
Message Relayed.
Shortly afterward, the British steam
ship Relillio relayed a message to the
Associated Press at London that Coste
had been sighted at 10:40 at a point
200 miles distant from the Azores. The
the plane had been seen yesterday
morning or last night, nor did it in
dicate the direction in which the
French flyers were headed.
The Associated Press also picked up
a message from the steamship Narenta
at 1885 G. M. T., saying it had sighted
the Marshal Pilsudski in latitude 1850
and longitude 26.43 w. The wireless
also failed to state the direction in
which the big plane was headed. The
position indicated is about 200 miles
Id:ikowski and Kubala were expert
encing serious motor trouble and, in
fact, logically might have been conSid-
cred already forced to land at sea or
upon one of the rocky isletS of the
Azores group.
Lacking any official information to
explain CoSte'S abandonment of the
flight the French government assumed
it to have been due to bitterly adverse
weather conditions.
The Polish flyers reported their mis-
fortune to the steamship Narenta in
message saying my motor has
trouble
More than five hours later Horta re-
ported them as indicating an urgent
need for a landing location.
Following the Horta report not a
word came from any source for several
hours.
Aviation observers deduced from this
that the Polish plane must have been
forced down.
Santander Notified.
At the same time Commanta mt
Renvoise informed these air fields and
RoipS at sea of CoSte's return. He added
tnat Coste would pass by way of Spain
and included Santander among the
points to which he addressed his mes
sage.
Both machines carried wireless sets
using 600-meter wave-length transmits
sion, but limited in range to less than
$50 miles.
The perils of the Atlantic crossing
have been experienced by Coste, as well
as his friendly Polish rivals. The
Frenchman hoped the Southern At
Iantic from Africa to South America in
1927, making the first Jump between
those continents.
The goal Of the/race is one of the
few transoceanic flying accomplish
ments that remains to be achieved.
While Capt. Koehl, Maj Fitzmaurice
and Baron Won Huenefeld. made the
first westward crossing Of the North
Atlantic last season, they few from
Ireland. and a crossing from the con-
tinent to the North America has never
been accomplished.
2O-Year Dream.
paris to New York" has been the
dream of French aviators since the day
40 years ago when Bleriot new across
the English Channel and Immediately
predicted that some one would some
day fy across the ocean.
Coste kept his intended destination
secret until after he had left LIE Bourget
because the French government has
oficially frowned upon transatlantic
flights.
Among those "in the know" were
a Continued on Page ., Column 81