Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-05
AWATORS SUCCEED
IN PACIFIC FLIGHT
Come Down Safely in Wenot.
chez, WASH, Despite Alb
sence of Landing Gear.
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
and after having been fined heavily for
flying over and taking photographs Of
fortified areas, Pangborn and Herndon
made heroes out of themselves in few
hours. A move IS under way to erect
monument in Japan concentrating
their feat
Only after a long delay and the in
tervention Of the American embassy did
Pangborn and Herndon receive permis-
sion to take their plane from near
Toxic to Samushiro. the only suitable
place in Japan for a transoceanic
take-off
Parghorn and Herndon got into their
trouble while flying from Khabarovsk,
Siberia. to Toxic. At Khabarovsk they
had abandoned an attempt to break the
Post-Gatty speed flight record around
the world. Having flown from New
York and across the Atlantic and across
Europe and Asia. Panbcrn and Herndon
found they could not break the record
and decided in favor of a nonstop
transpacific fight instead.
Storms Endangered Plane.
The two men said stormy weather
over Western Washington during the
last several hours of their flight had
endangered their plane They circled
Mount Rainier in the Western cascades
three times before getting their
bearings.
The aviatorS said the steel skid on
the bottom of their planes fuselage.
installed for a gearless landing, saved
their craft from being wrecked when
it came down.
I'VE were on the right course all the
way but we were aWfully sleepy" said
Pangborn. Boy, are we glad to be
here!"
Mrs. Herndon, who married the avia-
tor in New York just before Herndon
and Pangborn left on the round-the-
world adventure, made an effort to tele-
phone her husband from Albany shortly
after the landing was broadcast. Mrs.
Herndon is the daughter of James
Farley, New York boxing commissioner
The biggest thrill of the flight, the
airmen said, occurred when their engine
stopped after they had flown about
5000 miles They realized after a me-
ment that the cause was the draining
of one gas line tank and they quickly
switched to another in time to get the
motor going again.
They said they averaged about 1900
feet altitude all the way.
At the breakfast table with them
.
brother, Percy Pangborn, his wife and
the two Japanese reporters. They were
served ham and eggs.
Lost Much Altitude.
MY heart went into my mouth when
the engine stopped at the east end of
the Alaskan Gulf" said Herndon. I'VE
didn't expect the tank to 60 dry at the
time. The engine stopped, started again
couple of times before finally coming
to a full stop"
He said they had to descend several
thousand feet to make the change.
Pangborn was at the controls when
they landed and did most of the pilot
ing on the trip.
We became deafer and deafer and
had to write notes to Sach other in
order to communicate, although we sat
side by side," he said.
Pangborn said he ate two chicken
legs and piece of cheese and drank
hot tea with caffeine tablets in it to
keep him awake. Herndon's diet was
light, too, he said. They had a con-
siderable quantity of food left in the
plane when they landed.
"Snoozed a Little"
I'VE each snoozed a little, sitting up
In our plane" Pangborn said. They
both took baths at the hotel in prepara-
ton for their first good sleep in two
days.
Scores of congratulatory messages
were arriving. One was from the moth
or of Herndon.
1--WE had good weather for the first
1000 miles and then climbed 1900
feet trying to get over the clouds, hit
ting real heavy clouds at Dutch Harbor
at daybreak yesterday" said Herndon.
Ice began to form on the wings as
we climbed up and down, but we
couldn't get out of it. The plane was
loggy, but we few on through it. We
flew three hours after we thought we
should have been over land on the
Alaskan west coast.
I'VE got worried because we didn't
see land and thought something had
gone wrong and that We were off our