Evening star., 1940-07-28

| ing an air base, one OF four great Army
and Navy bases in the Territory. Alas
kans expressed grave fears, pointing to
| Russian activities on Diomede Island,
| just over the international boundary,
and to alleged joint Russian German
| military activities in the Kamandorsky
Islands as their justification.
One End TO the Other.
The start Of return flight south,
which, unexpectedly enough, was to con-
tinue across the Equator from the far
thest point north reached by any sched-
uled airline in the world to the farthest
point south, was begun June 81. After a
night in juneau, where officials re-
iterated the need for thorough defense
OF Alaska as the right wing of the hemi-
spherlc defense system, Seattle was
reached the following day. With de-
tour by way of San Francisco, necessi-
tated by traffic congestion on the Seattle
Salt Lake City section of the transconti-
mental airway, the writer reached New
York June 80 to receive bid for flight
| around South America, with departure
| from Washington scheduled for July 3.
Arrival in Washington July was fol-
| lowed by two hectic days of scurrying
around for passport. visas, vaccination,
anti-typhoid innoculation. police cre-
| dentials, missing birth certificate, sched-
ules, tickets and in cleaning up details
of the just-completed Alaskan trip.
1t was sheer comfort to collapse into
the deep reclining seat of an Eastern
Airlines plane, southbound out of Wash
ington Airport in a pouring rain just
before midnight of July g. A fast trans
| fer was made at Miami in the carry
morning of July to the new Miami
Municipal Airport. Here bombers of the
neutrality patrol we're staked out, with
rows of Army tents carrying out the
motif Of the defense emergency.
A four -engined Pan American strato-
clipper. on the inaugural flight of these
giant landplanes, lifted off the Miami
field with lazy ease at a m, climbed to
serene $4,000 feet, with cabin super
charger going to provide passenger COM
| fort, and headed down across the Car
ribbean. Cuba and Jamaica slipped by
| far below and at 2:30 pm, after flight
of only 6l2 hours wheels we're set to
| ground on the South American conti-
| nent at Barranquilla, Colombia. The
| first scheduled nonstop flight from
North to South America had been COM
| pleted.
Armed Soldiers at Airport.
At Barranquilla there was a startling
iYotrndIJrfinY, fo
| in evidence today throughout the
Americas as response to the totalitarian
| threat. Armed soldiers in steel helmets,
with loaded rifles, patroled the airport
to reinforce the customs guards. Ger
man polits and personnel of the pioneer
ing German Colombia airline, Scadta,
have been discharged recently and the
nationalized airline is manned by Co.
lombian personnel, under tutelage of
Pan American Airways personnel The
ousted Germans have settled in far
southeastern Colombia, where they are
| reported to have constructed airports
within TOO miles of the Panama Canal
A quick fight to Cristobal made pos
sible the witnessing of an independence
| Day celebration begun in Miami, with
| citizens of the Republic of Panama from
adjoining Colon joining zestfully in the
United States holiday festivities in the
Canal Zone
| Two days in the Canal Zone gave
opportunity for rather cursory inspec-
ton of military expansion program
which is turning every section of the
Zone into a beehive of activity New
construction, new equipment, new troops
are seen on every side; a recognition OF
| the vital role of the canal in hemisphere
security
July 7, early. witnessed the takeor
| from Cristobal, with flight across the
Canal Zone, down the Gulf of Panama
and into Colombia Climbing from the
coastal jungles, the Douglas DC-3 air
| liner of Panagra, West coast operating
unit of the Pan American system,
reached $1,000 feet to cross the Western
Cordillera of the Andes. On into Ecua-
dor and at 1:02 pm. the equator slipped
| by below in desert mountain valley
The night stop was made at the unin-
| spring coastal port of Guayaquil Two
days of flying from Miami had put the
equator behind and we were 3,4O5 miles
| from Washington.
Hop Over Peru.
July sent the long Peruvian coast
reeling back under the wings Oil wells,
mines of various kinds and struggling,
dry farms, outposts Of the great Chilean
desert, slipped away. Inca Indian ruins
showed briefly on the mountains and
near Trujillo we landed across the
ruins of Chan Chan, the imperial city
of the Chimus, who were conquered by
the 1ncas five centuries ago, before the
coming of the Spaniards.
A night at africa, northernmost Chilean
city, was followed by day OF flying down
the long Chilean cost, over the famous
nitrate workings and along the mighty
backbone of the snow-topped Andes to
Santiago. Along this coast we had evil
dence of German activities which are
making Chile one of the trouble spots of
the hemisphere. A German survey plane
parallelled our flight down the coast to
| pioneer new. rival service; talk in San
tiago was all of increasing Nazi political
and economic pressure. Revolutionary
activities were on the stir, to break into
the open only few days later.
The stay in Santiago was prolonged