Evening star., 1937-08-14
Flyers Overdue 20 Hours
at Fairbanks May Be
Down in Arctic.
mo BEARINGS" SAYS
INTERCEPTED APPEAL
Northland Flyers Await Word in
Alaska Before Beginning
Search for Russians.
BACKGROUND

The SO1net's first successful trans
polar ftght. started IN deepest se-
crecy, ended last June 20 at Van
couDer, Wash, nhen poor pstbtl-
ry' torced Pilot Valeri Chekalo6
and his flying compnnions, AleLan-
der Rel1okof, and Georoi Baibukof
10 come donn about 592 miles short
Of their original object,De-Onk-
land. CaiJ. They fen, $500 miles
IN So hours
Three tCeeks later second Sou1et
tr'o roayed ont Of Mosco,o nlono
the mem orldne and erteuded IL
S@ miles before bringing Their
monoptone dorGn IN San Joc,nto.
cant, co" pasture They fem
6,262 miles IN 81 hours.
By he ASSocia et Press
SEATTLE. August u LP.-The
proba bility that Sigismund Ievanefr-
sky and his five Russian companions
are safe somewhere in the vast Arctic
wastes was seen here today when the
Signal Corps station at Anchorage re-
ported lnterceptlng the first word
from the trans-poar plane in nearly
% hours.
IT reported the rode message heard
readable and translated with the un-
readable anks, stated: No bear
ings having trouble with
wave ba nd
The Signal Corps Alaska communi-.
cations system, which made the an
nouncement, stated,
Following message, the first mes
sage which has been received from
the plane since 2:40 am, me 18th.
was intercepted by Signal Corps sta.
ton at Anchorage.
Plane heard very weak calling
RDYW approximately 9oso kilocycles
al 6:44, P. S. T. folloVing intercepted
with banks:
"'19 r "a FE D,apazone
II wa. not known here whether the
plane could send wireless messages
while on the ground or IVES ftted nth
equipment only usable while aloft,
Long Overdue at Fairban ankS.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska, August IA L9N.
-Northland aylators, alarmed at news
from six Russian avlators that one
motor of their four-motored mono
plane had failed, stood by their planes
today, ready to lake out over the bleak
Arctic snoWhelds, where they fear
the Russians may have been forced
down.
Slglsmund Ievanefisky, pilot OF the
plane with which Russia was pioneer
ing proposed transpolar Moscow
United States airline, radioed Moscow
at ] am. TODAY, Moscow time IS pm.
Friday. E. S. t. the motor had Aailed
More than three hours later, At a:s3
received AT Moscow sa,d merely: How
do YOU hear me? Wait"
lAvaneffsky said ne intended 10
proceed here on three motors. He said
damaged oil line put the engine out
NJ commission, but gave no hint h.
and his hve companions intended 10
interrupt their flight, scheduled TO
end al Oakland. Calf
few seconds later Moscow lost
contact with the flyers.
The plane was 20 hours overdue here
a. noon, E. S. T, and an increasing
number of observers believed It miaht
already be down. II is 1000 miles here
from Moscow.
Weather Reported Good.
Weather was reported good IN
-ko b,,t
weather camp near the North Pole
said the sky was overcast, with vts-
ibility between 10 and u miles. The
temperature was 81 degrees Fahren-
heir.
levsneffsky was 10 land here. then
proceed 10 another refueling stop al
Edmonton, Alberta.
In pioneering the course, the huge
plane carried small freight cargo in
addition to its six occupants, twce
the number Of two previous trans-
polar flights which ended iu the United
States.
Whether the plane was down on
water, land or the ice cap at the top
OF the world were matters of pure con-
lecture, as was The fate of the giant
monoplane If it had been forced down
by storm or lack of fuel
From A. Vartanian, Soviet repre-
sentative at Seattle, came only one
comment;
1T is an unpleasa ut situation"
Moscow had no later word, the S,o-
nal Corps was informed.
A crowd assembled at the alrnort
here before pm. tE. S. t., the
expected arrival time, hut as the hours
passed the field was vacated.
Safe Landing Possible.
While not discounting fears for IN.
dyers' safety, airmen here pointed 10
the possibility Of safe landing on
Arctic ice fields. They recalled planes
nave landed and taken OF without
trouble from the vicinity of the Rus
sian North Pole observation post
Inc Russians carried heavy cloth
lng and six months emergency ra-
tions.
When he left Moscow at 1913 a.n,.
'E S. TD Thursday, Ievanef1sky esti-
mated 1t would take 30 hours for the
night here. With him are co-pllot
Nicolai Koetenaief1 and Navigator
Pobeszimoff.
The projected route TO Oakland was
over 5000 miles.
This was Levanehsky's second at
tempt to fly from Moscow across the
Pole to the United States. A broken
oil feed line forced him to turn back
from A point far out over the Arctic
Sea and return to Moscow IN AUGUST
1895.