Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-01
BY RUSSELL BOARDMAN AND
JOHN POLANDO.

JOHN POLANDO.
BY Cable to The Star. 49,.
ISTANBUL,, August AFTER several
weeks of tedious preparation, getting
together the best possible equipment,
making gasoline and oil consumption
tests with our Bellanca monoplane and
installing the latest night-f1ying In
struments, we decided we were ready
to attempt our flight from New York
to Istanbul. When we heard from DR..
Kimball on Monday evening that pros
poets of fine weather were excellent, we
decided to fuel our plane with view to
start in the early morning OF Tuesday.
We Immediately went to the flying
field. that evening and put in 718 gal
Ions of gasoline and 81 gallons Of oil.
Our food consisted of two roast chickens,
in wax paper, two thermos bottles OF
black coffee, two gallons of water, some
chocolate bars and chewing gum.
At 4 am. Tuesday we were at Floyd
Bennett Field. (All times given are
Eastern standard) At S o'clock we
took off down the 4,200-foot concrete
runway. Despite its great length, we
would have been unable to get into the
air had not officials in charge of the
field of the airport removed some tele-
phone standards which run along this
road at right anges TO the airport run
way.
Flyers Had Naval Escort.
Thanks to their help, we were able
to obtain an excellent take-off. We
proceeded across Long Island to the
north and came out over Long Island
Sound.
We were greatly surprised and cheered
to see that our good friend Capt. White
head of the United States Navy was
keeping us company. He few along
side of us for 20 miles before leav-
ing us.
Despite our tremendous load, which
was more than twice the weight OF our
airplane, we had no difficulty in hold
tour of the coast of Providence, r. l.
AS we passed over villages and towns
early morning riSers waved gayly to US.
Passing west of Boston and continu-
ing up the coast, our course took us
over Portland, Me, to Penobscot Bay.
From there we headed toward Nova
Scotia, where we encountered fog, which
we had to fly above. However, it did
not last long. and we soon were able TO
see Sidney, Nova Scotia, on our left as
we headed for Newfoundland.
ILLS SJLcJCA VIC 1IdQ
our first touch of ocean flying.
We saw only one small freighter
over which we few low SO that our
numbers might be read and our prog
resS reported. Along the coast Of New
foundland the lighthouse keepers and
their families waved us hearty good
by as we passed out over the Atlantic.
Leaving Cape Race lighthouse at a
height of 1000 feet. we took our final
bearings and set our first objective on
our flight TO Istanbul.
Encountered Dense Fog.
We then ran into a rain squat. which
lasted for a few minutes, but for the
first hundred miles we were able to see
the sea in spite of scattered clouds and
intermittent fog.
One hour from Cape Race we en-
countered dense fog which stayed
with US all through the night, making
it possible for us to observe the sea
only at rare intervals. We were flying
above it and did not see a single ship
all the way from Cape Race to the
Irish coast.
At 1857 on Wednesday morning we
saw the sun rise up through the fog.
Continuing on our wry eastward, the
low clouds and fog forced us to ny at q
gradually increasing altitude.
At am we were thrilled when we
caught sight of a patch of green through
hole in the clouds. We knew that we
were over Ireland and our FIRST object
had been attained
However, our troubles had only be-
gun. Clouds and fog forced us to an
altitude of 14,500 feet.
There the cold became intense, and
in our very light attire we felt it acute
ly. We hung on, however, until ice
started to form on the wings and wind
shields and forced us to fly lower. We
calculated then that we were over Eng
land, and to our joy at this moment we
came on a small opening in the fog