Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-04
BY DIEUDONNE CosTE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September At IS "a
hours since Maurice Bellonte and my
self landed at Valley Stream after max
ing the first continuous flight from
great city of the Old World to the
greatest city in the New. In those hours
we have had time for thought.
The thing that impresses me most as
/ look back upon those hazardous hours
is the radio. followed. very closely the
comment of Maj. Kingsford Smith, q
great aviator, upon his successfully ne
gotiating the westward passage OF the
Atlantic He laid particular stress upon
the radio, do the same. should say
that the radio Is just as indispensable
as the motor itself.
say this In spite of the fact that the
radio failed us at the latter end of the
voyage. Our radio, of 100 watts input.
was capable of establishing communica-
ton over distances up to 1000 kllo-
meters on the 600-meter wave length.
That is the wave used by ships and.
all transatlantic liners.
Throughout the long hours after we
passed over the French coast line north
of Rouen until we had made land fall
on the Western Hemisphere, we were in
constant touch with ships and at times
with French and then American coastal
stations. If one can picture the senSa-
ton of being seated in an open cockpit,
hour after hour-age after age IL seemed
to us--with nothing about one but rain
and mist, one may obtain . hazy pic
ture Of what those little vacuum tubes,
coils and plates meant to US.
Radio Bridged Gap 70 Aid.
It was as If we were not in midair far
from help. We could talk to other per-
sons. And. far beyond that. we knew
we were extremely aware OF the fact
that in the event Of . mishap others
would know Of our plight, others would
speed to our aid. Now that It Ii all
forget the feeling.
AZ only one time did we ask ship to
give us our position. We asked that Of
the operator on the Rochambeau. That
ship Is equipped with radiogonimeter.
an instrument too bulky for single
niotOred plane to carry on such night.
II gave us our bearings. 1t was not i'm
portat1t at that particular time that We
have them, but was it c0mforting? 1t
was. indeedl
Our can was merely the gesture of q
tired swimmer who likes to know that
there is some one to render assistance
In event Of need I do not remember
what our position was at the time.
Yes, the radio was just as important
as the motor; If it had failed us earlier
in the flight 1t might have been quite
unfortunate, but since 1t did not be-
come imperative until after we had
reached the American coast, We had
not SO much to worry about There
was the coast. We had nothing TO 40
but follow (which was not so simple.
I doubt If any one but an aviator
would appreciate this fact-and one
who had covered long distances over
unfamiliar territory. We nearly met
disaster in a ravine into which we new
unsuspectingly in Nova Scotia. II the
radio had been working at that time
we could have ascertained the correct
course to New York. but, unfortunately.
the field EXETER on the generator,
operating by a propeller In the slip
stream, had developed trouble.
All Instruments Worked Well.
But on the whole, all instruments
worked splendidly. including the radio
and there are IS to 40 instruments
on the Question Mark. Upon them our
lives depended
All this should point to the fact that
the success Of our flight was not de-
pendent upon courage, heroism or any
| thing OF the kind. II others who have
attempted to fly from Europe to New
York have failed, the chances are that
1t was because of lack Of adequate prep
aration. I cannot stress this too much.
Others have taken OF With an excess
of courage and q lack Of reflection.
admire them all. They have. OF
course, my highest regard, for, despite
failure, all of them have contributed
something 70 the era Of TRANSATLANTIC
aviation that is to come. But there is
one thing that occurs to me that can
not stress too much. That Is the CUES
ton of meteorology. II Beilofte and ]
determined in advance that the route
TO be followed was an unknown guam
tity, In that we were right.
Lost 600 Miles in Dodging.
We knew that we would have TO make
many difficult and trying maneuvers IN
our battle with the weather, and that
" had. indeed, to do. II we had at
tempted to fly the direct route we would
have been defeated. have measured
the distances or at least estimated
them as best can. and compute that
we lost 900 miles in our various SIDE
| trips to avoid storms or ind tail winds.
! All this went to convince us that
there was no route that could be de-
termined In advance that would be the
best under all circumstances for. q
transatlantic crossing. Weather con-
ditions determine everything. That Is
why we went 100 miles to the south just
before reaching Nova Scotia. That was
loss of time, but by making this
trip out of the way we saved ourselves
possibly many hours in that we avoid
ed opposing winds.
This maneuyer indicates that future
flights, though they be run on sched-
ule fixed in advance, will never be over
a pres' termined course. They will be
controlled by weather conditions
But, after all, we were not battling
the weather. We were fooling It.
It put untold obstacles in our path
1--we evaded them and found winds tc
help us. Never were we so grateful
for favorable weather as when We ap-
preached the American coast,