Evening star., 1937-07-23
BY GEORGE BAIDIJKOv.

fields laced by long assures. Black.
like roads il. the Spring, they enliven
little the Arctic landscape.
There Is no hiding from the over
whelming rays of the sun. They seem
to burn into the body. Happily my
eyes are protected by sun goggles
The visibility from the pilots cabin
is now so great that one seems to see
half of the globe simultaneously. At
IL o'clock Beliakov follows the exam
pie of the sleeping Chkalov and re-
main the sole witness of the work of
the plane and all the monotonous
splendor of nature.
In the cabin it is still warm. One
degree above. Altitude 1000 meters.
External temperature, IS degrees be-
low.
In 20 minutes the clouds appear be-
low again, hiding the fields Of ice.
And suddenly I grow little bored.
especially since my comrades are
sleeping the care-free sleep Of IA
tigue We slowly move toward the
North Pole. Against us blows wind
Of 40 to SO kilometers an hour. caus-
ing us to lose time and expend pre-
cious gasoline.
Day Seems Like Month.
The 10th Of June has come; ~ mid
night We have been flying just one
day, and it seems as though month
has passed. This is because Of the al
titude and lack Of appetite. We tried
only once to take food. All Of the
many sandwiches, chicken, ham, Or
anges, etc, lie untouched in their
rubber bags.
At am, June 19, when We have
flown for "a hours, I decide it is time
to change shifts and to waken my
comrades Turning over the con-
trolls to Chkalov, first go after some
water.
Sitting next to Sasha, keep try
ing to find out from him when we
will reach the Pole.
Strong head winds-we shall prob
ably not get there for four or five
hours" he answers.
Satisfied that I will not sleep
through the Pole, snoring in my bunk
go to the tank to pump up some
oil. In carrying out this physical
procedure, at height of 1900 meters.
feel a quickening of my pulse. and
decide to take some oxygen from
Sasha's tank. Sasha. with his face
III the mask, is already breathing in
oxygen and this has greatly refreshed
both his head and his whole body.
Beliakov hands me the oxygen
mask and, putting it on, I lie down
on the tank, feeling the refreshing
stream of oxygen. My breathing be-
comes steady, my pulse slows down
and fall fast asleep, forgetting the
Pole and everything in the world. And
at the same time Chkalov's mood is
spoiled by the appearance Of a cyclone
on the right.
Great numbers of these cyclones, in
spite of all theories to the contrary,
wander through the Arctic, with great
feathery clouds streaming over them,
yellow from the rays Of the sun.
They whirl like apparitions through
the great ocean OF air, sometimes
moving with great speed. 1t was
these that we most feared after our
repeated lessons from the ice, after we
had experienced how they hampered
our speed. And it is natural that
Valery should be displeased with this
present cyclone on our right, grad
ually turning leftward across our
route
Plane Bears to Left.
Our course begins to narrow. The
plane bears to the left, compen-
sating in this way for having been
driven to the right by the wind.
Below us there is still a solid mass of
clouds. Something has happened to
Beliakov's radio. All the instruments
seem to be In order, but there Is no
reception.
Sasha putters around the radio for 4
long time, but cannot get anything,
They wake me up after they pass the
cyclone and the plane flies due north
by the solar compass in marvellous
weather. although somewhere far
below the fog still covers the ice.
At 3:35 am, after q smoke and a
drink OF water, I take over from
Chkalov. With bated breath watch
the dials and the behavior Of all the
automatic rumors. We must be very
close to the pole. Sasha, H1hurriedlv.
records regularly the position of the
sun.
Examining closely the lines of our
position, We find that we are passing
slightly to the left of the Pole anc
that we cross over the end of 90
degrees north latitude-that is, the
tip OF the axis Of the earth-at 4
o'clock. From a height Of ALSO meters
we look down at the gigantic wilder
ness OF Ice, criss- by assures in
all directions. The compass becomes
more senitfvse and whirl violently at
the slightest list. But the automatic
instruments function normally. quite
oollvlous to the presence Of the pole.
The human being also feels no
change here. valery sleeps soundly
I suddenly lose all my sense of tri-
umpn and begin to think about how
explorers have lied about this ILL.,
starred pole. Looking downward, sa-
sha and again grimace at the monot-
onous wilderness Of ice and pay hon.
age to the four Soviet scientists
fighting in behalf of their country
and world science to conquer the pole.
They are somewhere very close, prob
ably on the left. Greetings. Comrades
Papanin, Krenkel, shirshov and re-
dorov! You are doing ereat and
essential work. Well, we shall 20 still
further-to the other pole!
The area between the North Pole
and Canada has for some reason been
called by explorers the pole Of mac
feasibility. It Is over this region that
We now begin to fly. Here no air.
plane has ever reared before. And
the honor Of being the first has fallen
to the Soviet ANT-25. It flies on
proudly over the ice packs.
We follow the course of the sun,
since the time has come when we
nEc0n-C