Evening star., 1932-05-18
ELLSWORTH BUYS
ANTARCTIC PLANE
Explorer and BaIchen Plan
Month of Tests Before
Going South.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 18 (NANA)-
Lincoln Ellsworth, the explorer, has
purchased a Northrop all-metal. low
winged monoplane capable Of 230 miles
an hour for his expedition of discovery
in the Antarctic next year. The plane
will be ready for flying tests next
August.
'Bernt Balchen and I expect to
spend at least q month making thor
ough and intensive flight tests with the
new plane" Mr.. Ellsworth said
ours is purely a voyage of discov-
ery and there is a real difference be-
tween discovery and exploration. First
must come discovery. That area be-
tween the Ross and Weddell Seas has
never been crossed. No one knows
whether those two great indentations
indicate that there Is division In the
continent or not.
mo one knows II the Queen Maud
Mountains are continuation from the
mountains of Graham Land OF the
Andes or whether they belong to a
separate system. Our purpose Is to
discover what is there and to build a
framework upon which investigators
NAV plan expeditions for the examtna-
ton of geological and mineral conol-
tions which in turn must precede ex-
ploitation."
Others in Party.
Besides Mr. Ellsworth and Balchen,
who will be the only persons on the
flight itself, the Ellsworth tranSantarctlc
flight expedition will have three ana
possibly four other members. corre-
spondent will accompany the expeoltlon
to the Bay of Whales and there await
khe return of the flyers with the story
of what they saw on their 2,900-mle
round trip across the unknown CONT
nent There also will be mechanic,
meteorologist and possibly a physician.
Mr.. Ellsworth and his pilot plan TO
leave New York in July, 1888, ana go
10 New Zealand, where they will ship
their plane aboard another vessel ana
then. with the other members OF the
expedition, they will sail for the Bay OF
Whales - .
border Of the Bay of Whales in an east
erlv direction. The course lies Tor
45o miles straight across the unknown
wastes to the shores of Weddel Sea,
which. so far as the records show. nave
never been seen by man since its dis
covery 80 years ago.
without landing, the plane will be
banked about and return Hgnt Will
be made over the same course or par
aIleling it very closely unless one OF the
storms that come up, sometimes riolng
winds of $50 miles an hour velocity, IN
the Antarctic, should intervene. Then
there will be two alternatives-one to
land and camp until the storm passes
and the other further voyage OF dis
covery from the edge of the Wedden
Sea north to Graham Land and beyond
to the whaling station on Deception
Island, a distance of 1900 miles from
the end of the proposed voyage on the
Weddell Sea.
The plane will have ample range for
the extended trip if it should prove
necessary, Mr.. Ellsworth has been as
sured. If, however, weather Is propi-
tious, the flyers expect to be back at
their base on the Bay Of Whales in
about 20 hours after leaving 1t and
ready then to place their plane aboard
ship and start for home.
VIII Prepare for Ice.
The machine has been designated by
its designer as the Gamma type. 1t has
the full cantilever Northrop wing sec
fi0n and will he Stream-1fned for the