Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-01
''HOw. We Got to Istanbul"
Crossing the Alps With. High Winds and Poor
Visibility Was Biggest Thrill for
Cape Cod Flyers.

which was just Sufacient for US to
spiral down.
Finding, that we were over land we
continued our compass course, which
we believed would bring us over Lon
don. Our belief was correct, and at
/ $50 pm. we passed over that city.
From the time that we got our one
and only brief glimpse of land over
ireland we new blind through heavy
fog and rain clouds. We were entirely
dependent upon our Sperry artificial
horizon and directorial gyro.
They functioned perfectly during the
entire flight and were invaluable to us.
Our next objective was Paris. where
we were to drop a copy of the New
York Times. Our visibility was now
better and about 20 mills short Of the
French capital we picked up the revolV-
ing beacon at lie Bourget and EifeI
Tower.
As we throttIed down and circled over
the airdrome at about 4 pm. Wednes-
day, hoodlights were thrown on and we
saw another plane landing. After drop
ping our newspaper, which we have
since heard was picked up, we made off
not feeling very happy about the cross
ing OF the Alps which lay ahead of us
In the middle of the night with prospect
OF storms and poor visibility.
For the first half hour it was cloudy.
but afterward, to our great delight, the
moon appeared. 1t stayed with us only
Tor q short time, however. and reap
pearsd only for brief intervals through
out the night.
The next six hours were perhaps the
most trying Of our whole Journey. for
vlSlplnCy was poor and 1t was most Diff
ncuIt TO distinguish between clouds and
mountains because of a heavy ground
maze. Zig-zagging through valIeys-at
times We did not know whether We were
between cloud banks or mountains-we
longed for daylight.
Munich the Next Landmark.
The next landmark we picked up was
Munich. From there on to Salzburg
the visibility improved as daylight an
proached, and we decided then to make
a detour to avoid the highest peaks.
which still were ahead Of us.
We thus struck the Danube near Bel
grade, and our course followed the
river through the Szretinya Mountains,
1here we again encountered more
trouble. in the way of low clouds living
well down on the sides of the tss;rln-
tains.
Conditions. indeed. were so bad that
we were sorely tempted to end our
hight. But, inaSmuch as our goal was
near, We hung on. Flying low over
the river, we made our way between
mountains which were altogether too
close for comfort.
This was, indeed, the toughest part
OF our journey. the wind at times rock
ing our airplane and almost dashing it
into the sides Of mountains.
Gradually the clouds lifted, and, as
the river turned in a northeasterly d.
rectlon, we gained greater altitude and
were able to cross the foothills and get
back on our course.
We still had the Balkan Mountains to
negotiate, but the weather was the best
yet encountered on our fight, and as
we approached them we could see that
our real troubles were over. We crossed
them without difficulty.
Met by Ambassador.
The remainder of our Journey was
without incident and when we saw the
Black Sea on our left, the Marmora on
our right and Istanbul, with its stately
minarets looming directly ahead, we
knew we were about to realize our great
ambition of completing q New York to-
Istanbul nonstop fight.
After circling over the YeShilkoy Air.
drcme, we made a good landing and
TAXED to the hangar, where the Amer
lean Ambassador, Mr.. Grew; the gov
ernor of IStanbul, officers of the Turk
ish air force and officials of the Turkish
Aviation League were waiting to well
come US.
After our motor stopped and we
climbed out of our good ship, the Cape
Cod, it suddenly came home to us that
we were almost deaf Apart from this
and a certain stiffness in our legs, we
felt none the worse for our experience.
Before we left the airdrome we were
entertained at q buffet luncheon in the
Turkish Air Force officers mess. We
greatly appreciated their kind fore
thought and the welcome given us by
them and the others.
(World copyright, 1881, by the New York
Times Co. All rights reserved)