Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-02
POLAR. BEAR FLIGHT REVEALS
ROMANCE OF MODERN AVIATION
Army Air Corps Flyers Endure Terrific
Hardships to Conquer King Winter on
Long Experimental Expedition.

One Of the romances Of modern mill
tary aviation has been written by the
1st Pursuit Group, Army Air Corps
during the past two weeks In an epic
struggle against billiards and SUBJ
Arctic temperatures. The group this
week completed its famous polar bear
flight from its home station, Selfridge
Field, Mount Clemens, Mich, to Spo-
kane, Wash, and return.
The fight was research in Mid
winter operations and the results have
been invaluable in the opinion Of Army
officials. Every type Of hardship which
may be anticipated In any type of Win
ter operations was encountered and
overcome after almost incredible hard
ships faced by officers of the group.
One Of the inspiring features of the
expedition to military authorities was
the splendid work of amateur radio
stations along the line Of flight and in
the National Capital in maintaining
Of the group and in relaying vitality
important messages to points along
the line Of flight and from the flight
commander, Maj. Ralph Royce, Air
Corps, to the War Department. Or
ganized amateur radio operators demon
strated their value to the country dur
ing this expedition as an integral part
of the National Defense System, in the
opinion of Army experts.
Operators of amateur stations In and
around the National Capital maintained
constant vigil during the flight and on
repeated occasions brought the first
word to the War Department from the
expedition. This was especially true in
the case of flyers who were storm-bound
away from the official channels OF COM
munication.
The following local amateur stations
took part In the organized commun1ca-
tons work in connection with the flight:
W3LA, Paul H. Thomson, Silver Spring,
Md; W3BWT, e. p. Darne, 1872 Ten
nessee avenue northeast; W3CAB, G. A.
Briggs; W3AI. M. A. Wallis, and W3-
ASO, h v. Farnham, 3l3 v street
northeast, assisted by M. H. Long, VS.
LX, president Of the Washington Radio
Club, and Miss z. M. Zandonine, W3-
CDQ, treasurer Of the same organiza-
ton.
These stations worked in co-opera-
ton with the War Department. All
are members Of the washington Raolo
Club and the work of organizing a
working schedule for the amateur OPP
orators so that at least one station
would be on duty at all hours Of the
day and night was carried out by
Charles j. walter, station W3AWM,
secretary Of the club.
Messages from the Western anna.
teurs handling the messages from the
expedition were relayed by WINK,
at Hartford, Conn.
Local Amateurs Found Plane.
The local amateurs were first to get
into communication with ABS, the off,
cial call of the radio plane accompany
ing the expedition, on which Sergt K.
D. Wilson, radio man at Boiling Field
and owner of the local amateur sta
ton, W3GT, was operator. This plane
was forced down within few days after
the flight started and was stranded IL
miles from civilization, with exhausted
radio batteries. Western amateurs To-
Gated the plane and notified the War
Department through the local anna
Later, when the planes Of the expedi-
ton became scattered by storms the
Western amateur stations, notably
W9COS and W9CSI, succeeded In locat-
ing every one Of the % planes and noti-
flying the War Department through
local stations of their location and con-
dition.
The flight was attended from the very
start by hardship and danger. The day
before the scheduled take-of from Sell
fridge Field the 10 pursuit, / observa-
ton and 3 transport planes compos-
ing the force were rolled out onto the
ice of Lake st. Clair, where skis were
substituted for the landing wheels. That
night a thaw with heavy rains set in
and during the night the big transport
planes began to go through the ice,
followed by the pursuit planes. After
the most heroic struggle the planes were
pulled ashore, where the rain began to
freeze in solid masses on the ships
After the delay caused by these mis-
fortunes, the expedition got under way
and Immediately ran into exceedingly
severe weather conditions.
Second Major Lesson.
In radio message from Minot N.
Second major lesson Of LIST Pursuit