Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-30
BY HUGH HERNDoN, JR.
To- = Ala IN rfhA XfAr

ard clyde Pangborn. tOho are flying :
around the ,corld.
BY HUGH HERNDoN, JR.
I BY Radio to The Star.
CROYDEN AIRPORT, London. July
80 tN.A.N.A). We had really won
derful trip, considering everything, ano;
although we struck lot CT fog ana
were flying absolutely blind for hours,
nothing that you could call specially
Getting all the gas We wanted on
board left us prett~ heavy and we
dumped a good deal Of clothing ana
other c6ds end ends to tighten our
machine as much as possible. AS q
f, matter of fact. I've only got things l
| can stand up in and guess I'm going
to feel bit uncomfortable when we
| we started of with 725 gallons In
tanks and an extra IS in cans We
| got rid of these Just as soon as ever
| we could. Once on the way, we
! cpcned one can at time and emptied
the contents into the main TANKS. once
, they were empty, we cut the cars up
! into scraps and shot them over the
side of the machine. This took rather
! long time. but We couldn't threw
/
get rid of the weight somehow.
Hit Fog Early.
! It was a little after Tuesday eve
i ming when we passed Harbor Grace
! and l can tell you that this was about
! the most emotional moment CT the
! whole trip. You know, 1t gives volt
! a queer kind of feeling to know that
| you are looking at the last land you
Go
all events, felt like that, anyway.
We were flying at about 1000 rect
when we passed over Harbor Grace,
| but we soon had to go up, for we
i ran into fog almost at once and we
| started to climb out over the top OF It..
It took us from $50 till $50 to clear
| it and by that time we were about
/ IL 900 feet up. AS we broke clear we
saw the moon for the first time ana
| it was good to see, believe me.
From that moment We few over the
top of the clouds all the way. We had
to or we should never have found the
! Way across at all. We varied the alti-
| tude a bit. but were generally flying
between $4,000 and $4,000 feet.
! You cannot give Pangborn too much
! praise for that nights work. Clydes
flying was simply wonderful. He was
| flying completely blind for. nearly two
hours and by instruments the rest Of
the time. We could not see anything
| down below, except once. when we
caught Just one friendly little glimpse
Of sea through a hole in the CLOUDS.
Up above 1t 1t was not so bad. me
sun came ont about 2 o'clock IN the
morning and that made things a lot
more cheerful Clyde few ell through
that night. I did not touch the con-
trolls at all, although we took turn and
| kM If
Sighted Dry Land.
We managed to get some sort Of
rest during the flight. Sleeping was
not too easy, but we managed to get
snatches of from Is to 80 minutes at
intervals-just enough, anyway, to save
us from getting too tired All the
same, neither of us took much rocking
when we got into bed at Cardigan:
1t was some time before we got there,
though. At about $50 I saw great
banks heavy with clouds Just ahead of
us. They we're much higher than the
clouds we had been flying over and ]
thought they might indicate land
although, of course, / could not be
sure. Anyway. the possibility seemed
worth investigating and we began TO
climb down through the cloud banks
and the fog 10 make sure one way or
the other Suddenly 1 saw something
down below through little break IN
ton to it. we both stared hard. but
still felt very uncertain; in fact, We
almost decided II was a boat and that
we must still be over the sea. Get
ting lower still, we were able to make
out roads and then We knew That at
all events we were over dry land again.
Actually we were over Dublin, and as
we still had enough gas left for about
eight hours more of flying, we set q
straight course for London and thought
we should make II before we came down
for our first halt but the weather was
against us. We simply could not gel
going The fog was terrible and we
| found the way barred every time we
got in a direct line for Croydon.
Mountains Were Hazard.
We tried flying high and flying low
| but 1t made no difference. MOST OF the
time we were Zigzagging about almost
on top Of the sea, and began to Won
land, but we did. After about four
hours more flying time was absolutely
in the dark as to our exact course. We
got over what proved to be part CT
wales. We were still having to keep
very low and the hills there threatened
, danger. More than once I thought We
were going to run into mountain side
in the fog, but luck and Pang's skill
pulled us through safely until We were
over Cardigan.
BY that time we realized that the only
safe thing was to land at the flrst IA
| vorable spot, and we began to circle
around trying to find field big enough
for our purpose. This was not easy t
find and we we're casting about fol
nearly an hour before we struck any
thing like a safe landing place. BY tina
time we had attracted quite a lot o.
attention. The noise of our engines hat
brought most of the villagers out ant
! VIII n they saw us circling all that tint
their curiosity grew.
When we came down for a perfedI
landing the entire village was there X
| greet US. They told US the name of tn
! place was Moylegrove. 1t isn't town
! it's Just tiny village with a half dozer
houses, out every one was wonderfully
kind and hospitable and some one found
o. AL g. vrrtan WI