The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-06-03
First Flyer Is
Over Atlantic
CONTINUED from Page ~

Mattern's flight to-day is 8. per-
haps the most dificult ever essay
ed. His route is Berlin Moscow
Yakutsk- Siberia Edmonton. Cana
Chicago. New York. Alone he
will try to break the two man re-
cord, itself hailed as history maxi
ing, of Wiley Post ind Harold CAT
ty, on his 1854 mile world hight.
But there was no sign that to-
Mattern, army trained veteran of
many flights, he was risking his
life. For weeks he had been re-
conditioning and testing his 900
horse power Lockheed plane and
checking the instruments. the best
obtainable, on which he depends.
1t is painted to resemble somewhat
an American. eagle, with wavy
stripes to represent feathers. 1t
has no radio.
For days now, Mattern had been
awaiting favorable weather. Late
last night he telephoned DIR James
Kimball, the famous meteorologist
Of the weather bureau, who has
given the Ego" signal to SO many
transatlantic flyers.
Kimba1l told the Texas aviator
that q. start this morning would
give him clear skies and q favor
able tail wind across the Atlantic.
Mattern at once telephoned the
field from his Coney Island hotel
that he would take off soon after
dawn.
At 8 a. m. the plane was taken to
the runway and 400 gallons OF
gasoline were placed in Its tanks.
Mattern was awakened at his hotel.
be greeted by q small crowd In
GLIDING Major j. Nelson Kelly, of
the army's Mitchell Field nearby,
and George Tiiyou, who have adj
vised him as to his flight.
Mattern had with him a few per-
sonal belongings and q little addi-
tiona1 equipment.
He had good look at the run
~ly. His plane has every pound OF
weight it would stand. Fearing the
$500 foot runway would not be
long enough, officials removed the
fence to give an additional 1900
feet in which, If he failed to take
off. he could brake the planes
wheels. To remind him that this
might be difficult, an ambulance
by.
1--WE got a good tail wind and
half a dozen oranges, and I'm OF,
said the smiling Mattern.
The planes motor was going
when he climbed aboard at 5:18.
Mattern shook hands silently with
Kelly and Tilyou, adjusted his he'll
met, tested the throttle q couple OF
times and was off.
The plane rose CALAMITY in good
time and climbed rapidly into a
gray haze. off on its first stage to
Berlin and its second fight of the
Atlantic. On the first it established
a speed record of 10 hours SO min
utes for. the water jump.
Mattern swung out over the sea,
then back over the field before he
took off due east to disappear at
5;25.
Hawks Broke Own Record
New York, June 3-(U.P) A
robot pilot at the controls helped
Lieutenant Commander Frank NJ.
Hawks set a new nonstop trans
continental air speed record of 10
hours. rs minutes, when he swoop-
ed down at Floyd Bennett field
shortly before midnight.
The veteran speed pilot bettered
his own record by 4 hours, IL min
utes, made June %, 1929. But for
head winds encountered all the
way east from Kansas City he
would have made even faster time.
Hawks said. He averaged ISL miles
ian hour in his 14-cylinder. robot
l controlled plane.
I Hawks left Los Angeles munich
pal airport at 1851 E. D. T. time
and landed at Floyd Bennett air
! BORT at i1:19 p. m.
4 The robot worked remarkably
well, Hawks said. ''The only
trouble was that I got sleepy" he
added, "but all-in-all 1t was a re-
markable trip and remarkable
performance for the mechanical
man. All I had to do was to change
/ the direction occasionally in ac-
cordance with my course. The
robot maintained an even course
with no variations whatsoever. The
head winds were what held me
back.
81 struck bad weather in the
pass through the San Bernardino
Mountains. A dense fog made flying
rather difficult. l was at the con-
trolls then, not the robot. didn't
hand the ship over to him until we
were through that"
Hawks flew most of the time at
an altitude OF from $4,000 to 49,
900 feet. His fastest speed was ESQ
miles an hour which was logged
over Colorado.