Evening star., 1946-10-06
.Drean,boaf Flies
Over Crete on
Last Lap Of Trip
Rides Out Storm
Crossing Sea as II
Approaches Cairo
BY The As.oeiotsd eress

United States Army,S B-20 Pacu-
san Dreamboat, on the last leg
OF its Hawaii-to-Egypt nonstop
fight over the top OF the world,
left Italy behind and scared over
the island Of Crete at 800 am,
Greenwich Mean Time, today
t10:20 p.m., EST, Saturday.
Messages received from the Su-
perfortress ais she few over the sea
towards Cairo said she had passed
out of q thunderstorm.
Earlier the Dreamboat radioed
the Army Air Transport Command
base here that 1t had encountered
an electrical storm and asked for
weather conditions over the Medi-.
terranean between Greece and
Egypt.
The Dreamboat was in radio con-
tact with Foggia airbase in South
ern italy at las am. GMT today
(8:25 pm. EST Saturday,, Ciampino
airport outside Rome reported.
At last contact, the Dreamboat
was cruising at 5000 feet and max
ing $50 miles an hour.
It YVES expected to arrive at Cairo
at $50 or $50 am, GMT Q:30 or
1:50 am, EST.
Passes Near Paris.
The Dreamboat passed about so
miles east Of Paris at 1926 pm,
GMT (5:35 pm. EST, an Army
ofncial at Paris rOrly Field reported.
The Orly Field control tower ad-
vised the B-29 that a low pressure
area was building up in the Adri-
attic Sea and advised the pilot to
steer q course just west Of Geneva,
Switzerland, In crossing the Alps.
Earlier, Northhold airdrome near
London reported the Dreamboat
reached the British capital an hour
ahead of schedule and with so little
warning Of its approach that the
Royal Air Force had to abandon
plans to send up an escort Of Mos
quito bombers.
An Raj spokesman said, Eve
didn't know Of Its arrival until six
minutes before. We couldn't get
the Mosquitoes up In time to meet
her. The pity about 1t Ill Is that
the good old Dreamboat was doing
too well, as 1t were, and spoiled the
progTafa by being too early. We had
hoped to do the Dreamboat proud
but circumstances were against us. !"
Averaying $50 M.PH.
The plane, despite %uncharted
weather IN the extreme north above
Hudson Bay. had averaged around
$50 miles an hotlr since IT. takeoff.
Col. q. S. Irvine and his crew of
nine Ii. taking on friday at AL
pm, GMT (11.21 am, EST, esti-
mated they would reach Cairo In
Il to ~ hours. The course across
Arctic wastelands with their -notori-
Gus weather conditions precluded
much chance that the Dreamboat
would attempt to shatter the United
States Nays distance record of H.
$50 miles, set earlier this week by
the Truculent Turtle.
May Fly Beyond Cairo.
Should gasoline gauges appear
high when the Super Fortress noses
across the Egyptian desert to Cairo,
1t was expected that Col. Irvine
would send the. ship TOO miles up the
Nile to Wadi Halfa, in the Anglo
Egyptian Sudan south of Cairo. The
route from Honolulu to Cairo was
estimated to be IL, 800 miles long.
The plane weighed "a tons at
takeof but grew lighter every min
ute as Its four hungry engines drank
the 1882 pounds of gasoline it
lifted from the Hawaiian airfleld.
During much of the day, the
Dreamboat few along the southern
limits of the Arctic Ocean, the other
shore Of which touches the q. S. s. r.
In Moscow, the government news
paper Izvestia, commenting on an
other subject, said the Americans
are having warm love for the cold
countries: The Arctic, Iceland,
Greenland and Scandinavia.
. The plane few a slight variation
of Great Circle route to avoid
flying over Russian controlled ter
ritory. A true circle from Honolulu
to Cairo would have routed the
Dreamboat over Scandinavia and
the territory east of Berlin and
through the Russian-dominated
Balkans.
The plane without hitch cleared
the Pacific near Sitka, Alaska at
4 am. GMT I'll pm. Friday EST)
Her pilot lifted her from the 1000
feet at which she had crossed the
first ocean to around Is 900 to clear
the Southeast Alaskan peaks
1t. Gen. Ennis Whitehead In
Honolulu said the flight was q test
for global air force. The test cost
50, ,000, 900 and among other things,
was undertaken to try out the lat-
est instruments for blind flying.