Northwest History. Aviation 8. Wilkins' Expedition, United States. |
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CAPT. WILKINS AND PILOT SAFE AT POINT BARROW, SAYS RADIO. Silence of 13 Days Broken When N. A. N. A. Operator Reaches His Goal. TELLS. OF MANY MISHAPS Explorer's Return Trip Failed by Split Propeller And Weather Condition. By Frederic Lewis Earp. Special Correspondent of The Spokesman-Review and the North American Newspaper Alliance with the Detroit Arctic Expedition. (Copyright, 1926.) FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, April 29. -- Captain George H. Wilkins and his flying pilot, Lieutenant Carl Ben Eielson, are safe at Point Barrow. They reported by wireless last night after a silence of 13 days, when Robert Waskey, radioman for the North American Newspaper alliance arrived and got into communication with the signal corps station here. Forced to turn back from an attempted return journey by storms, low-hanging clouds in the Endicott mountains and a split propeller, Captain Wilkins announced last night that he would make a fourth attempt to get away, perhaps today. Plane Just Misses Crash. The Monoplane Alaskan came near a crash in the mountains on the journey northward from Fairbanks when the right wheel almost touched a snowbank. Captain Wilkins said a burned-out generator prevented him from using the radio set carried in his plane to communicate with Fairbanks. Earl Hammond, representative of the expedition at Barrow with his fast racing dog team brought Waskey into the settlement ahead of "Sandy" Smith and Earl Rossman, two to the other members of the overland party, who are expected to arrive there tomorrow or next day. It was a heart-breaking watch at the radio station last night to get Waskey's signals. Until after midnight the army radio operators and Howard F. Mason, chief operator for the expedition, strove to piece together the information from the station 520 miles to the north. Letters and words were dropped here and there, but by rechecking a tangible story was unfolded. Tells of Dangers Avoided. "After leaving Fairbanks Thursday, April 15," Captain Wilkins' account ran, "we met high clouds but could not get the ship above 9000 feet with the load we were carrying. Flying through the thick fog the ship once was almost into the mountainside when Ben swerved to the right. The Alaskan's right landing wheel almost scraped a snowbank. We continued on through the narrow pass and reached our destination in six hours. "A snowstorm held us here until Monday, April 19. The hop-off early that morning was without incident. We were flying over clouds 4000 feet from the ground and under clouds 9000 feet high until these clouds met in the mountains and we were forced to turn back, reaching Barrow again after four hours in the air. "Snowstorms again delayed us until Friday, April 23, when we started out again. The engine was giving us some trouble and we landed after 15 minutes in the air and turned the propeller split, owing to the glue drying. We repaired the propeller but the second try in the air failed and we were down again in 20 minutes. Planned to Return Thursday. "We have repaired the propeller again, the engine is O.K. and we are probably leaving Thursday. "It the Detroiter brings a new propeller here her pilot should remember the coast east of Barrow is low with sand pits. Off shore is smooth ice. On the south coast there is straight rough ice close to shore and open water opposite Barrow." Captain Wilkins, in a message to Major Thomas G. Lanphier, army air service, second in command of the
Object Description
Description
Original index title | Northwest History. Aviation 8. Wilkins' Expedition, United States. |
Resource Identifier | nwh-s-8-3-44-1 |
Resource Type | Text |
Genre | Clippings |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0 |
Rights Notes | Copyright not evaluated. Contact original newspaper publisher for copyright information. |
Full-Text | CAPT. WILKINS AND PILOT SAFE AT POINT BARROW, SAYS RADIO. Silence of 13 Days Broken When N. A. N. A. Operator Reaches His Goal. TELLS. OF MANY MISHAPS Explorer's Return Trip Failed by Split Propeller And Weather Condition. By Frederic Lewis Earp. Special Correspondent of The Spokesman-Review and the North American Newspaper Alliance with the Detroit Arctic Expedition. (Copyright, 1926.) FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, April 29. -- Captain George H. Wilkins and his flying pilot, Lieutenant Carl Ben Eielson, are safe at Point Barrow. They reported by wireless last night after a silence of 13 days, when Robert Waskey, radioman for the North American Newspaper alliance arrived and got into communication with the signal corps station here. Forced to turn back from an attempted return journey by storms, low-hanging clouds in the Endicott mountains and a split propeller, Captain Wilkins announced last night that he would make a fourth attempt to get away, perhaps today. Plane Just Misses Crash. The Monoplane Alaskan came near a crash in the mountains on the journey northward from Fairbanks when the right wheel almost touched a snowbank. Captain Wilkins said a burned-out generator prevented him from using the radio set carried in his plane to communicate with Fairbanks. Earl Hammond, representative of the expedition at Barrow with his fast racing dog team brought Waskey into the settlement ahead of "Sandy" Smith and Earl Rossman, two to the other members of the overland party, who are expected to arrive there tomorrow or next day. It was a heart-breaking watch at the radio station last night to get Waskey's signals. Until after midnight the army radio operators and Howard F. Mason, chief operator for the expedition, strove to piece together the information from the station 520 miles to the north. Letters and words were dropped here and there, but by rechecking a tangible story was unfolded. Tells of Dangers Avoided. "After leaving Fairbanks Thursday, April 15," Captain Wilkins' account ran, "we met high clouds but could not get the ship above 9000 feet with the load we were carrying. Flying through the thick fog the ship once was almost into the mountainside when Ben swerved to the right. The Alaskan's right landing wheel almost scraped a snowbank. We continued on through the narrow pass and reached our destination in six hours. "A snowstorm held us here until Monday, April 19. The hop-off early that morning was without incident. We were flying over clouds 4000 feet from the ground and under clouds 9000 feet high until these clouds met in the mountains and we were forced to turn back, reaching Barrow again after four hours in the air. "Snowstorms again delayed us until Friday, April 23, when we started out again. The engine was giving us some trouble and we landed after 15 minutes in the air and turned the propeller split, owing to the glue drying. We repaired the propeller but the second try in the air failed and we were down again in 20 minutes. Planned to Return Thursday. "We have repaired the propeller again, the engine is O.K. and we are probably leaving Thursday. "It the Detroiter brings a new propeller here her pilot should remember the coast east of Barrow is low with sand pits. Off shore is smooth ice. On the south coast there is straight rough ice close to shore and open water opposite Barrow." Captain Wilkins, in a message to Major Thomas G. Lanphier, army air service, second in command of the |
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