Evening star., 1933-07-23

CrOSSon OF the Pan-American Air
ways. one of the finest pilots and
grandest fellows who ever drew
breath. Joe and his company got
right on the job to help me out.
Joe was welcome sight when
he arrived at Flat that night
with new propeller. 1t certainly
would have been tough for me to get
washed up there. almost within sight
OF my goal, after what I had been
through
Another hard part Of the flight
was the section over the Ural Noun
tains from Moscow to NovOSibirsk
last Monday. Just as got into the
mountains it logged up heavily and
for seven hours / had to fly over
them, which is no picnic. I have
never seen thicker clouds than !
found that day.
flew at the height of $1,000
feet and was almost al in from the
rarefied atmosphere and I mushed
down through 10000 feet of clouds
before I saw the land. and then it
was only 200 feet below me. There
again good luck came at just the
right time The clouds thinned up
about 100 miles west Of Novosibirsk
and got in there with no further
difflculty
At Novosibirsk, Miss Fay Gillis.
American woman aviatrix and
daughter Of an American engineer,
was waiting to help me, and she
certainly did. She had everything
at the field lined up and waiting
for me. She acted as interpreter,
sent kilograms, got proper food for
me and did a thouSand things to
help me- cannot express toe much
appreciation of her aid. I was sorry
I could not take her along to
Khabaroysk. as had planned. but
was advised that taking her might
endanger the record as solo flight.
Loses Slim Lead.
The weather through Siberia was
Z nightmare. when I arrived at
Irkutsk had q lead Of l6 hours
over my flight with Gatty, although
I was way behind my schedule. But
the fog closed down tight on me
once more at Irkutsk and what
had expected to be d short wait
dragged on for hours. There was
no helping 1t, though. for the
weather dope was that there was q
storm over the Baikal Mountains,
which I had to cross.
when I finally did get of, at 7
o'clock the next morning midnight
Tuesday, New York daylight tirne)
I was only q little over Gatty's and
my record of 1881 Pretty soon I
lost even that slim lead. ran into
q heavy rainstorm, with high winds
which showed the Winnie Mae
around, and the visibility was ter
rible
was following the Siberian
Railroad with a good tailwind, but
the clouds came lower and lower.
1 finally took to hedge hopping. 1t
was getting worse instead Of better,
SO I saw nothing to 1t but to set
the ship down In the first place
could find.
I dropped down at the village Of
Rukhl0vo. 800 miles or more ON the
wrong side of Khabarovsk, which
had been one Of my scheduled stops.
Good luck returned at Khabaro-
vsk. Gatty and I had lost half q
day on our flight when We begged
down in the mud at Klagoveschenk,
and more than a day at Khabarovsk
waiting for favorable weather before
making the long hop to Alaska.
Flew on Top Of Clouds.
This time. though. had no delay
at Khabarovsk. The Russians. who
did wonders for me everywhere, had
everything waiting for me at the
field. / got away for Alaska only two
hours and fifteen minutes after ar
irving there.
This hop from Khabarovsk to
Alaska was. I suppose. the hardest
part of the entire flight. On the
whole trip from Khabarovsk to the
Sea of Okhotak saw the ground
only two hours. For seven hours l
flew down on top Of the clouds. The
only land saw was mountain peaks
showing up through the clouds. !
could make out no landmarks and
few q compass course on top OF the
clouds, figuring my drift from the
way the clouds shifted around the
mountain peaks. -5.-.
That hop to Flat, Alaska, where I
came down Is about $500 miles di-,
rect line and took me over the Sea
of Okhotsk, the Kanachatka PENN
sula. and the mountainous coast of
Serbia before I crossed the ,Berihg
Sea. I had q stiff wind behind me
and when I thought must be over
Alaska I slid down through hole
In the clouds and there was Nome
I had made It in fifteen hours.
Robot Functioned Perfectly.
understand this was the first solo
fight over this distance. doubt If I
could have made 1t without the auto
matte pilot. I should say here also
that the robot pilot itself functioned
perfectly all the way. The trouble I
had was with the oil feed. which was
the fault of the installation and not
of the automatic pilot.
MY motor also functioned perfectly
the entire way and never missed q
beat from the time We left Nsw York
until We returned. I also wish to
express my appreciation for the cour-
tesy, hospitality and helpfulness !
met at every stop in the flight.
None Of the delays suffered was
caused by need of sleep. I am con-
vinced now that with coed weather,
and with the automatic pilot to re-
lieve me of the strain of managing
the controls constantly. I could fly
the whole route again in the Win ie
Mae just - she Is without any slcsp
at all. :