The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-07-15

| SLlc WAS WdlLlIlB lOI AluIl dI llcl town house, but he was informed of it later. She had come by automo- bile at 1 D. m. from her parents home in Saybrook, Conn.,, riding in the front seat of her limousine be- side her chauffeur, and wearing slacks and a sport blouse.
 Sent Out For Lunch
 The servants, taken by surprise, had to send out to a caterers for her lunch and she whiled away the rest of the day waiting to give her hero private reception. Hughes, a few minutes after the take-off on his round~ the world flight, flew over Miss Hepburns home at Say brook and dipped the wings in sa- lute.
 All five flyers had retired soon af- ter dusk It was Thursday evening; yet, "A hours earlier they had spent another Thursday evening of the same date roaring across Siberia more than 4000 miles away. That was before they crossed the inter- national dateline, where the calen- dar turned back to Wednesday and they began racing down the home ward stretch across Alaska and Canada.
 In almost his first comment on his flight, Hughes paid a tribute to the man whose record he had brok- en--the late Wiley Post, who flew around the world alone in 1883, ir seven days, Is hours, 49 minutes and 30 seconds, in the single-motored plane Winnie Mae.
 Pays Tribute To Post
 He was asked if he regarded his flight as the greatest flight ever.
 Posts" Hughes, replied, remains the greatest flight of all time. He did it alone"
 Of his own achievement, he spoke humbly.
 q was out to find out how well some of the new flying equipment works. It works fine. I've got notes on everything that happened-4C pages of them-and I even drew a map of northern Siberia because our coast guard maps were all wrong.'
 AS a result of faulty maps, he said, his plane had one of it's two narrow escapes during the trip. His first scare came when his fuel SUD- ply ran low as he crossed the At lantic to Paris early last Monday morning and he had doubted it would last until he reached land.
 The other was after he took of from Yakutsk, Siberia.
 Maps Were All Wrong
 Its a damn good thing didn't try to fly out of Yakutsk by night he said. "The maps were all wrong. We came across mountains which the maps showed at $500 feet, only to find they were 5000 feet high and were covered with snow. The wing tips were laden with ice and we had to climb sharply to keep from crash ing"
 None of the crew had more than four hours sleep from the time they left Floyd Bonnet field, at 7:20 D. m. Sunday, until last night. When they stepped out of the plane they were bearded, grimy and reeling from weariness. The three married members of the creW-Lieut. Thomas Thurlow and Harry M. Connor, navigators, and Richard Stoddart radio engineer, almost fell into the arms of their wives who had been escorted through the crowd with difficulty.
 Lund Is Surprised
 Edward Lund, engineer of the flight, returned to find himself in- volved in a romance that surprised him. His 19 year old secretary, Elinor Hoagland, had announced Tuesday that she was engaged to him. She waited at the airport throughout the flight, sleeping occa- sionally on a cot and collapsed yes- terday noon from weariness and excitement.
 Lund, questioned about her an- nouncement, said:. T don't know what this marrying talk is all about. I never said I'd marry her I'm not engaged to her and I don't plan to be. I wouldn't get married to anyone"
 The flyers first moment of relax ation after escaping the crowd at the airport, was at the home of Grover Whalen, president of the Worlds Fair which their flight pub- licized It was there that Hughes was able to give his first coherent account.
 Fuel Went Too Quickly
 Of the first leg of the trip, across the Atlantic to Paris over the "Lindbergh" route, he said he was not concerned with setting any speed record but I was concerned with getting there, because there was too much early fuel consump- tion.
 My plane was too small for the purpose because of the amount of gas which had to be carried. We had wing load of 47 pounds to the square foot-the greatest wing load I have ever heard of, including the Schneider cup races, and took off with 25,600 pounds, while the most I had ever tested the plane at, with water ballast in California, was 24,000 pounds.
 At the start, gasoline consumption was 90 gallons an hour because of the load, but he gradually reduced it to 65 gallons.
 Take-Off Most Dangerous
 The take-off from Floyd Bennett field was actually the most danger ous part of the entire trip, he said He had to attain speed of 125 miles an hour before leaving the 1 ground. A tail-wheel fitting was broken at the take-off and the re- influx of visitors.
 Berlin States Demand /! Tn Berlin, the Lokal Anzeigel quoted Karl Ritter von Hakt, Ger man member of the niternationa,