Evening star., 1932-07-09
viii Go to Moscow Tomorrow
With Damaged Parts,
They Declare.
POOR PHONE SERVICE
HIDES DETAILS OF TRIP
Mattern and Griffin Say Ship
Turned Over When They Came
Down on Soft Ground.

Copyright, 1882, by the Associated Press)
MOSCOW, July 9.-James Natter
and Bennett Griffin, American round
the-world flyers whose adventure failet
when they were forced down in pea
bog near Borisov, Russia, Thursda!
morning, are coming to Moscow TO-
morrow, they said over shaky tele
phone line from Borisov to the AS
sociated Press correspondent here to
day.
They said they would decide afte'
reaching Moscow whether they will con
tinue their flight around the world o.
return to the United States by way o
Europe.
1t was their first contact with al
American since they landed at she re
mote Russian town at am, Thurs
day, and damaged their plane, tn
Century of Progress in the sof
muck Of the bog.
Shipping Parts to Moscow.
Neither of us was hurt except TO
a few scratches they said. I'VE ar
coming to Moscow tomorrow by trail
and are shipping parts of our plan
there for repairs"
1t was a conversation under eXcru
ciating difficulties. For over "a hour
it had not been possible to get a cal
through from Moscow to Borisov at al
When the connection was finall
established 1t was impossible for tn
flyers or the correspondent to hea
each other.
So the conversation had to be earriet
on through operators acting as relay
and this made it necessary to trans
late from English into Russian ant
again into English both ways.
Technical difficulties with the con
trols of the plane forced us to land,
they said Then the plane turned owe
as we came down in the bog.
We're both all right but very sorT-
We failed in our effort to beat tn
round -the-world record. We wer
forced down Just after we thought W
had completed the most difficult par
Of the trip, and we we're making ex
cellent time.
Ship Turned over.
Even then we would have been al
right if the soft ground hadn't cause
the ship to turn over. AS it is, tn
plane is not very seriously damage
and we think we can repair it.
I'VE spent all day yesterday disas
sembling and packing the motor, an
we are freighting the damaged parts t
Moscow in the hope it can be repaire
| there so we won't have to abandon tn
| ship. We, are going back to Minis
| this evening for our luggage, and W
will take the express train from there
/ arriving in Moscow tomorrow morning.
The flyers said they spent last nigh
/ in the only hotel in Borisov. 1t is
| very small structure, but they said the
we're very comfortable, and added the
were faring very we'll under the car
of the Soviet Civil Aviation Society rep
resentativeS, who were sent from Mos
! COW to assist them.
At this point the connection, wabbl
| to begin with, broke down entirely.
Propeller Is Damaged.
Reports to the militia headquarter
here said the controls and propelle
were damaged and it would be Difficult
to repair the ship at Minsk.
The flyers sent cablegrams to tn
folks back home from Minsk befor
they left there TO return to BorisoI
Efforts to learn the details of their las
fateful flight were unavailing.
The manager of the hotel in Minis
where they spent Thursday night sal
they were in excellent condition.
The fact that the flyers were dow
about 16 hours before news of thei
mishap got abroad was an illustratio
of the lack of communication facilitie
around Borisov. During the SO hour
between the time they left Berlin an
the announcement they had been foun
the Civil Aviation Society was doing a
it could to find them