Evening star., 1937-07-22
BY GEORGE BAIDUKOV.

have not had good look at the
earth AS though in spite, Beliakov's
sextant has gone out of commission
Sasha and l have little dispute on
this account while looking in the
log. In it are shown bare figures
But We still do not know in what
direction or with what force the wind
had carried us. Beliakov, his head
bowed YEARLY, struggles to receive a
radio message. His blue lips and the
sharp lines in his face betray his eX-
haustion.
At 2:l5 pm. I take my watch as
navigator, and Sasha goes to sleep.
The sound of the motor drones
smoothly in the fuselage. The solar
compass accurately transforms the
great bright globe into a small dot,
throwing its reflection on the Opaque
disc. Altitude, 5000 meters; tenn
perature, 10 degrees below; clouds as
far as the eye can see; above the
sun, and ahead-what is there ahead?
We can already hear that the
motor works with new intensity,
and the altimeter has begun to
show a gradual climb. Before us and
on the left the sky begins to darken-
the promised cyclone is approa ching.
We must get our bearings soon,
otherwise the sun will disappear and
then the lack of visibility, lasting more
than seven hours, will react danger
ously on the entire crew.
I reach for the damaged sextant,
and luckily l discover in it small
bubble. Holding it near the radiator I
succeed in enlarging the bubble and
at 2:42 climb little higher. The
line of our position is along the
meridian and clearly indicates a de-
Walton to the right or, to be more
exact, drift to the right of the
scheduled line of flight Noting this
in the journal, I determine approxi-
mately that, following our previous
course we should cut into the west
Joseph Land.
Crawl Under Roof of Clouds.
1t quickly begins to grow dark in
the cabin. We again crawl under a
roof of clouds. On the left is a
solid dark wall Chkalov making a
sharp turn to the right, flies along
side this inhospitable wall But the
upper and lower layers of cloud i'm
placably attempt to come together,
wrapping the plane in downy blan-
ket. I wait curiouSly to see what
Valery will do We bear strongly to
the right and, side by side with the
plane, the cyclone, too. as though de-
liberately, stretches its wing more
and more to the right, trying to block
our way.
At 4:l0 I send a radiogram tc
ALL that our position is rs degrees
latitude, "A degrees longitude; that
We are passing around a cloudy area
and that We are holding our course
toward Rudolf Island.
Chkalov climbs to 1000 meters. The
outside temperature falls to "a de-
grees below. 1t is chilly in the cabin,
even though the heater is on. Chkalov
keeps looking back to indicate that
the weather is getting Worese. and at
B O'Clock begins to demand that we
should change, although by the sched-
ule he still has five hours to 20.
And so, instead of resting after eight
hours on duty, the pilots seat beckons
to me again and, of course, blind
flying.
Chkalov points ahead and saws:
you take this blind stretch, Epor,
as We agreed-and, anyway, my legs
ache terribly" In truth, Valery's
face, hollow-cheeked, has become
drawn and older and has an un-
healthy, yellow tinge Valery does
not go far away, but pumps up the
pressure in the small de-icer tank
Tor the propeller. make ready for
blind flying and switch on all the
automatic devices on the engine
setting our course due north, climb
boldly into the dark wall of the
cyclone, gradually making altitude.
1his time 1 am egged on by the
unouly low temperature, exactly "a
degrees below, centigrade.
Continue Ascent.
Without waiting for ice to form, I
concentrate all my attention on f1vinp
nv instruments. At Sis everything
disappears from the field of vision,
and as though completely cut off
from the world, screened by the
CLOUDS, calmly continue the ascent
But IN a few minutes comrade
ChKaloV and 1 are bitterly disillusioned
Inc mead parts of the plane in
spontaneously become covered with
transparent white ice. Then there is
a Jerking and shuddering. valerv
!oegies me from behind to use the de-
lcer. Opening the spout full force
am able to stop the palpitations of
'ne propeller. But ice covers the
wings, the stabilizer and the antennae
like lightning and we have no wav of
clearing them.
NO one can understand what We
pilots go through at such a moment
OF impotence in the face of natural
forces. You want to weep from yexa-
ton, it is so horrible to think that
your plane might become an icicle.
ana That you must surrender help
lessly to nature. No, we will not give
IN! Full speed! The motor roars
smoothy, giving all its power. Meter
py meter, higher and higher and. oh
JOY! Within 20 minutes we are flyinp
at 4,l50 meters and the clouds are
already five meters below us. And
above Is the sun, the bountiful sun!
How weary We are from those moments
OF alarm, from physical effort at such
an altitude. And what about oxygen?
We must still economize on oxygen,
perhaps even more difficult moments
are ahead!
Again the tension relaxes, and
fatigue claims its own. Afraid of
going to sleep at the stick, 1 ask for
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