Evening star., 1937-07-13

BACKGROUND
Three Soriet dridtors last month
fe,D from MoScoW to Vancouver,
Wash, in So hours and II minutes.
This Uds the first OF & contemplated
series OF trips looking to esta ablish-
nent Of commercial airline betueen
nations in near future.
By the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO. July l3-SafeI,
through North Pole snoWstorm, three
Russian flyers roared over Northern
British Columbia today en- route from
Moscow to San Francisco
Their big plane had covered approx.
lmately 1000 miles of the 6.OOO-mile
journey, and Army officers calculated
the avlatorS might arrive here at m
tomorrow Eastern standard time).
Reach British Columbia.
The flyers gave their position al
1875 am. |E. S. TD as latitude Sc
degrees 30 minutes and longitude 12O
Army officers said this indicated the
plane had reached Northern British
Columbia between Fort Nelson and
Hudsons Hope. Fort Nelson is in the
northeast corner of British Columbia
Hudsons Hope. in the Peace River area
to the southwark, is near the Alberta
border and about 700 miles from the
United States.
This would place it approximately
1900 miles north of San Francisco.
Hurdling over cyclone and fight
ing through a snowstorm, the mono
plane crossed safely over the North
Pole last night. and early today flew
over Great Bear Lake.
A radio message at 7:2l am, East
ern standard time, breaking through
static which shut out United States
Army Signal Corps stations listening
in the United States and Alaska. re-
ported "everything o. K" as the plane
few over Mckenzie Territory about
! 400 miles south of the Pole The
message was intercepted by the Cana
dian Signal Corps,
Army officers estimated the planes
speed at approximately 100 miles an
hour.
Pass through SnOWSt0rnlS.
Soaring through snoWstorms and a
cyclone area where terrific winds
buffeted the plane, the flyers crossed
the North Pole at Ala pm. 7:l5 pm
E. S. T., yesterday, less than "a hours
after leaving Moscow.
The plane took off from Tschelkovo
Field, 35 miles from Moscow, at 1922
pm, E. S. T., Sunday
The airmen-Pilot Mkhail Gromoff,
Co-pilot Andrei Yumosheff and Navi-
gator Sergei Danilin-have fixed San
Francisco as the goal. but may land
at some other Pacific Coast city, de-
pending on weather conditions and
fuel consumption aboard the plane,
which has a single wing 154 feet from
tip to tip and is powered by one mo-
tor developing more than 1000 horse
power.
Plane Kept High.
More than $500 feet in the air to
escape snow and a cyclone area, the
plane scared over the polar region
and out across the bleak ice cap for
the Northern Canadian shores, 1900
miles southwark.
The flyers planned to follow a
course along the l2Oth meridian,
which would bring them across the
central portion of the District of
Mackenzie, along the eastern bor Ter
of British Columbia. over CHtral
washington and Oregon and into
California.
Before leaving Moscow, Pilot GRIM
off said the flights purpose was 10
confirm again the possibility of regu-
lar communications intercontinental-
ly by way of the pole and to attempt
breaking the nonstop distance record
of 5,637 miles now held by the French
men Maurice Rossi and Paul Codas
1t is approximately 5000 miles by air
line via the North Pole from Moscow
to San Francisco.
Reached Pole in Day.
Pilot Gromoffs plane reached the
pole IN 8 minutes under "a hours,
compared to the % hours required on
the transpolar flight last month.
Officials of the National Aeronauti-
cal Association estimated the earliest
possible arrival time at am. tomor-
row. which would make a flight of
approximately so hours.
Weather Bureau officials here said
the flyers probably would have clear
weather across Washington and
Oregon.