Evening star., 1937-03-20
Earhart
Continued From First Page

1T rather rough and I wish to avoid
beating up my ship. The Coast Guard
cutter Shoshone at HoWland Island.
am advised, says it is better not to
arrive there too early in the morning
because of the early mist.
Favoring northeast winds are pre-
dicted, which would help the Electra
on its course straight from Hawaii to
Rowland. In those very favoring winds
lies major problem 1t Is not often
that speed is handicap but this time
it is. For if go too fast, l am likely
to arrive too soon at my destination.
The distance between Hawaii and
Hcwland is 1900 land miles prefer
to leave in daylight, in the later after
noon. At $50 miles per hour, the trip
should take about IL hours OF
course, there are no night landing
facilities at Howland Island, so must
arrive there in daylight. The prob
lem is how I can fly slowly enough
with my fast plane, plus tailwinds, to
accomplish both a daylight take-off
and daylight arrival
In consultation with our navigators,
Manning and Noonan, I have con-
sidered the probability of a daylight
trip That is starting at dawn. But
weather forecasts are not ideal for
that rather risky venture While the
pilot might be suited as to visibility,
ceilings and tailwinds, the situation
is less satisfactory for the men who
have to find our tiny island objective.
To get observations during the day
they must see the sun when they
want to.
Reports Are Meager.
The reports from the section to be
covered are so meager, no one knows
definitely whether or not the plane
could top the cumulus clouds which
are reported as probably present dur
ing the day. Perhaps there would be
breaks in those clouds, perhaps not.
The small size of the target we are
aiming at eliminates dead reckoning
as the only means of locating it. One
must supplement dead reckoning
with celestial navigation and with
radio as aids in such a situation
In addition to the weather problems,
there is the additional one of the well
fare of both crew and ship. While
none of tine four of us appeared tired
when we landed yesterday morning 1
noticed that the eyes of all were
slightly bloodshot-the pilots probably
because they were constantly peering
into the hazy night and then back to
the lighted instrument panel. The
navigators, because of the close work
they had done in their none too well
lighted cabin.
After all, We had approximately IA
hours and 20 minutes of night flying.
1t is much better not to let fatigue of
any kind creep into the early part of
an expedition of long duration, for
such fatigue cannot be eliminated
later Twenty-four hours real rest
makes every one fisk or eight hours
might not.
Mr.. and Mrs. Chris Holmes are our
hosts here. Its waikiki and Paradise
for trans-Paciflc airmen. Meals are
miraculously served wherever and
whenever one wakes up. Speaking
of meals, we had our first one i'm
mediately after our arrival at Col.
and Mrs. John McDonnell's quarters
at Wheeler Field. How Mrs. Nc
Donnell managed to have scrambled
eggs and bacon ready to serve at the
crack of dawn I don't know, but
do know they were the best scrambled
eggs any Of us had ever eaten.
Recognizes Army Aides.
As Mantz TAXED the ship into the
hangar I noticed some of the same
Army men standing by who had done
such valiant work on my Lockheed
Vega when I was here in January.
1885. They are assigned to help me
again by the very understanding Off
GERS in charge, who included Gen.
Barton K. Young, Col. John Nc
Donnell and Maj. Samuel Grierson.
My mechanical needs are mostly a
service check. Hardly had our crew
moved out Of the ship when its in
spection began. Engine cowls came
of and the constant speed propellers
were taken down for greasing.
Wilbur Thomas, Pratt and Whitney
representative in Hawaii, was on his
toes to get ut the wasp engines. He
positively pleaded for permission to
check the valves. intent on making