Evening star. [volume], July 25, 1937, Page A-4, Image 4

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
ABE BAILED BERE
Polar Trio Find Flight as
Passengers Over U. S.
“One Long Picnic.”
Flying across the United States in a
scheduled airliner was "one long
picnic" to three Soviet aviators who
established a world non-stop distance
flight record in their trip from Moscow
over the North Pole to San Jacinto,
Calif.
The trio. Pilot Mikhail Gromov, Co
pilot Andrei Yumashev and Naviga
tor Sergei Danilin, crossed the United
States in a 21-p:vser,ger transport of
American Airlines, which marie a spe
cial stop for them at Washington Air
port.
"They were lots of fun.” sighed pretty
brunette Miss Ruth Costello, stew
ardess on the big transport. "They
acted like big kids out of school and
seemed to enjoy the flight to the
last minute."
The Russians, who will remain here
until Wednesday morning, can speak
no English.
"That wasn’t much handicap," said
Miss Costello. "They worked out a
sign language that would put an In
dian to shame."
The flyers were especially inter
ested in technical details of the trans
continental airline and the airplane
end airways equipment.
They were accompanied during the
flight from Los Angeles by Le1 Khvat,
American correspondent for the So
viet newspaper Pravria. and A. Var
tanian, chief engineer for the Amtorg
Trading Corp.
The flyers were met at Washington
Airport bv Constantine A. Oumansky.
Charge d'Affaires of the Soviet Em
bassy. who welcomed each in turn as
he left the airplane wnth a heartv kiss
on the lips. Ijirgp bouquets of flowers
•were thrust into the arms of each of
the visitors.
After posing for pictures, they were
taken directly to the Soviet Embassy
for luncheon as the guests of Mr. and
Mrs. Oumansky argi the Embassy staff.
Luncheon over, they paid a courtesy
call on Mat Gen. Oscar Westover,
chief of the Army Air Corps.
Yesterday afternoon the flyers were
taken by Mr. and Mrs. Oumansky to
a beach resort near Annapolis, where
the Oumanskys have a Summer cot
tage. The eottage was not large
enough for the three visitors, it was
explained, but the Oumanskys suc
ceeded in finding another nearby.
There the fli ers were to spend a quiet
week end resting after their strenuous
welcome in California and the trans
continental trip.
Tomorrow they will return to Wash
ington for a round of courtesy calls on
Federal aviation officials and for sight
seeing. The only official social func
tion on their program is to be a re
ception at the Soviet Embassy at 9
pm. Tuesday, at which they will de
scribe their record flight.
They are expected to leave for New
York Wednesday morning. Their air
plane. dismantled in the California
field in which they landed, is to be
shipped to Paris and flown by its crew
from there to Moscow.
--•-—-.
Kennedy Plan
iContinued From First Page.)
help of officials of the Brookings In
etitution.
The reorganization study was under
taken soon after Kennedy was ap- j
pointed chairman of a special sub- I
committee of the House District Com- j
mittee which framed the original tax j
bill designed to keep the municipal j
government “out of the red” in the
current fiscal year. Kennedy had
hoped to complete it in time for the
careful consideration of Congress at
the present session, but indications
are now it will go over until the next
session.
Kennedy, however, will iutroduce
the bill providing for the various
changes in the municipal government
organization so the measure can be
considered soon after Congress recon
venes in January.
It is Kennedy's confident belief
adoption of his reorganization plan
will preclude much of the criticism
in Congress of the District and its
officials, in addition to saving the
taxpayers thousands of dollars a year
and at the same time giving them a
more efficient and more economical i
government.
Complaint Against Commissioners.
Only a few days ago one of the
ranking members of the House Dis- !
trict, Committee complained that the !
Commissioners were not properly co
operating with Congress. The Com
missioners, he said, seldom appeared
before the House and Senate District
Committees, and relied on Corpora
tion Counsel Elwood H. Seal to ex
press their views on local legislation
under consideration.
“I have been a member of the
District Committee for five years,”
he said, “and I have never seen the
Commissioners at a meeting. In any
city—no matter how smali—it is the
custom for the Mayor to confer with
th£ town council. Congress is serv
ing as a town council for the District,
but its members seldom confer with
the Commissioners.”
If the reorganization plan is put
into effect, Kennedy believes the Com
missioners will have more time to
.epend at. the Capitol, and that Con
gress will be more responsive than it
jhas in the past to the wishes of the
>oteless residents of the District.
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Soviet Polar Flyers Welcomed Here
ITT' III Ill ■ lil III Hi II Wll M ■ i _
Sergei Danilin (left), navigator of the plane which flew non-stop from Moscow to Cali
f°r7}}a• Is welcomed to Washington with a kiss from Constantine Oumansky, Charge d’Affaires
of the Soviet Embassy. At the right is Co-Pilot Andrei Yumashev.
_____—Underwood & Underwood Photo.
Soviet Flyers Emptied Oxygen
Supply High Over Icy Clouds
Pilot Forced to Rise to 6,000 Meters
Found Exhaustion Came Easily.
Narrowly Missed Cyclone.
One of the pilots of the first
Soviet plane to fly over the North
Pole from Moscow to America has
written a vivid narrative of the
experiences of himself and his two
companions. In this installment,
the seventh of a series. Pilot Baidu
kov tells of the air-starved crew's
struggle to remain conscious with
out oxygen while skirting a cyclone
high over the mountains.
BY GEORGE BAIDUKOV.
Over Northern Canada, Sasha still
sleeps. I have had the navigation
watch for three hours.
Below Is the Great Bear Lake, cov
ered completelv with ice, although we
are at latitude 64 There is still below
us lifeless naked brown earth, without
woods or shrubs.
Laying my head on the table, I fall
asleep. At exactly 7 p.m. I wake up,
awaken Beliakov, turn o'er the log to
him, and myself go to replace Chkaiov.
Valery gladly yields his place to me
and immediately lies down on his side.
The numerous instruments show
that the heart of the plane—the en
gine—has a normal pulse. The course
by the compass is 130. One might
think that we are flying anywhere you
please, except to the south. But a
look at the deviation—45 degrees—
and it becomes clear that wt are going
south and nowhere else. The revolu
tions of the motor at 3.000 meters are
reduced to 1.480, and even that seems
too wild. There is hardly any noise
and almost none of that mighty ring
ing which went on all through the ear
lier part of the flight.
In the cabin we can converse with
each other easily at a distance of 2
or 3 meters. But the difficulty is else
where. As soon as the engine begins
to work on lower revolutions, the pipe
which carries the warm air into the
cabin begins to force in cold air. But
there is no great need for it now any
way, because the temperature outside
is still zero.
See Mackenzie River.
At 8 o'clock the wide and winding
Mackenzie River, which falls into the
Arctic Ocean, approaches our course
sharply from the right. The river Is
already, apparently, free of ice, and
only the remnants of floods tell of the
recent Spring in these part;.
Below us appear the separate ridges
of low mountains. This is the spur
of the Mackenzie range. As the
mountains grow higher, great masses
of clouds appear in fantastic forms.
Some stretch up like great ropes to a
height of from 5.000 to 6.000 feet,
Others spread out like islands no
higher than our plane.
Vibration begins to set in. I guide
the plane between these cliffs of mist
and gradually climb upward, knowung
that below me some of the mountain
peaks rise 3.000 meters.
Just about this time, the weather
is beginning to grow worse. Prom
somewhere, far to the left, a heavy
cyclone menaces us, cutting right
across our path. On the right light
glimmers on the horizon.
Since, judging by the horizon, the
visibility is still good, I decide that
it is better to swerve to the right and
climb upward gradually, and then,
when the plane is above the clouds,
to return again to our former course.
We do not want to fly straight through
the clouds because the temperature,
even at a height of 4,400 meters, is
15 degrees below. And past experi
ence has shown that it is possible for
ice to form on the w:ings even at a
lower altitude than we are now.
Actually, if ice should begin to
form, we would have to descend. But
i a look at the map shows us that for
t.wo or three hours we shall not be
able to fly lower than 4 non meters,
without bumping into the first moun
tain peak that comes along.
Then perhaps it would be better to
turn to the left? But it ran be seen
clearly that the very center of the
cyclone is to the left. And it is quite
uncertain how we will spend the night
if we fall into a cyclone over the
mountains.
No, we have already learned our
lesson from bitter experience in the
Arctic and we do not wish to stick
our necks into the noose. We remem
ber vividly the words of Comrade
Stalin when he started us off on this
: long journey—if the weather is bad,
: don't chase afier anv records, just
land at any spot in Canada.
And now, sitting at the controls, I
hesitate no longer, but turn sharply
to the right and follow along the edge
of the cyclone in the direction of the
Pacific. If we pass the Rocky Moun
tains, we shall reach the sea safely at
night.
In northern weather conditions, that
will be much better than over the
mountains. Over the ocean I can at
least dive right down close to the
water and so find temperature above
zero, which will keep ice from form
ing. And for the rest there is nothing
to fear. The engine works like a
rlock. there is still gasoline in the
tanks for at least 20 hours, and the
crew has rested during the good
weather in Canada.
Too bad, we cannot get the radio
stations of Anchorage or Seattle. We
haven't had the remotest idea of
what the weather ahead is for more
j than 24 hours.
The trouble with the radio, which
| lasted for several hours, has been
j fixed. It seems that one of us, crawl
ing between the side of the fuselage
and the radio transmitter, must have
; somehow caught in the wire of the
j antenna and torn it. Now that is
all fixed and yet no one answers us.
Tlie Mackenzie Mountains begin.
Their summits are entirely bare and
the northern slopes are covered with
a snow-white blanket. The clouds
become denser and finally shut off
the earth from us entirely.
I climb upward as though ascend
ing a mountain with a heavy burden,
j At 9 o'clock our altitude is 5.500
; meters, the temperature 15 degrees
! below. Above us. only a canopy of
| diaphanous clouds, illuminated by the
sun.
Seek Oxygen Relief.
Sa.sha puts on the oxygen mask.
Valery also feels the altitude, wakes
up and crawls to the back seat to
breath some oxygen.
I receive a note from Beliakov that
there are only 20 atmospheres of
oxygen left, enough for one hour's
flying.
What devil has tempted you to use
it so extravagantly, dear Sasha? Now,
brother, you will have to gasp like a
flsh on land, I think to myself.
I have used very little oxygen on
the trip and still have enough.
Below a rift appears again and
we can see that the lower layer of
clouds is at times lying on the sum
mit of a mountain range. Some kind
of a river valley.
Ten-flfty p.rn. Altitude, 6,000 me
ters. It has grown cold. Outside the
temperature is 20 degrees below. We
discover that inside the cabin the
reserve tank of water is completely
frozen—the whole thing has turned
to ice. That is because we are making
abrupt turns. But we cannot in
crease our speed. That would mean
to use too much gasoline and that
valuable fuel is now more precious
than blood to us. We have decided
to pierce through the clouds and get
to America. We must forge our words
into deeds.
The altitude is telling on us. Six
thousand meters—that is no joke after
46 hours of continuous flying at a
height of 4,000 to 5.000 meters. I
grow tired very quickly and at 11
o'clock Chkaiov, with the greatest
effort, can barely drag himself to
my place.
And now everything grows black
before my eyes as I crawl out of the
forward cabin and bury my face in
Sasha's oxygen mask. How much
better I feel immediately! Beliakov
already has thought of opening up the
reserve tank and again is using the
precious gas extravagantly. I breathe
at intervals and economize the oxy
! gen in that way. I must move around
I less or, still better, lie in the bunk.
My old friend, the massive Valka,
has grown very pale. For some rea
son Ins nose has started to bleed.
He has a hard time stopping it and
now, putting on the oxygen mask, he
guides the plane on its course over
the Rocky Mountains to the ocean.
The plane skims over the tops of the
I clouds. Chkaiov is exhausted after
an hour at the controls and asks for
relief.
Engine Is Normal.
What a strenuous procedure at
such an altitude! The pulse beat Is
I 140. the heart stings. But as soon as
I put on the mask and grasp the stick
i it all passes quickly. I take a look
; at the instruments. Everything nor
mal. I listen to the engine. All
| the power it can give is being squeezed
i out of it. The plane glides along.
! leaning on the invisible particles of
ranficd air.
Ahead the clouds reach still higher
and the disUir'e of 6.100 meters
which separates me from the earth
is not enough to lift me above the
clouds. What now, shall I turn to
the right? But that would mean
flying back! We throw caution aside
and now must risk smashing straight
| through the clouds. I make a turn
i of 60 degrees to the left and, with
j some exasperation, head right into
i the muddy, formless mass of uninvit
| ing clouds.
The clock says 12 o'clock. That
I means the 20th of June is beginning.
I But while that is true according to
1 Greenwich time, actually it will not
i soon be morning, as the clock indi
| cates, but real, dark night.
At times the plane is tossed about
| roughly and its long wings vibrate
piteously. As before, I hold to the
compass course of 130. Our altitude
is still 6 000 meters. According to our
calculations, we should soon reach the
shore. Beliakov writes that the oxy
gen is gone. Bad business. I don't
want to go down. There is no ice now,
and I am prepared to go far as pos
sible until we get out of the clouds. .
But there's no help for it—it's im
possible to fly long at 6.000 meters
without oxygen and so I begin grad
ually to lose altitude. After an hour
of flying, we are at 4.000 meters. Be
low, the clouds begin to darken, and
then the clouds suddenly fly upward,
and I find myself between two layers.
The lower, broken layer lies right over
the water. Ah, water! That means
we have crossed the Rockies.
Reach Pacific Ocean.
We have reached the Pacific Ocean
after all, although it has cost us an
extra four hours of flying over the
rough Rocky Mountains. The shore
is invisible, hidden by clouds.
Beliakov Is all in after working for
the last hour without oxygen. But
there is no danger now, Sashenka.
There is still six hours before night
fall. Give us the course along the
short and lie down and rest.
We set our new' course at 108 de
grees. That should gradually bring
us to land. Sasha and I look atten
tively in the direction of the shore.
Nothing but fog to be seen. I dro® to
3,500 meters.
At 1:20 the fog breaks and some
island appear on the left. They are
craggy, forbidding, for the most part
covered with snow, and ragged with
innumerable fjords. The sea la calm,
no w’hltecaps are visible. There Is no
sun, and It Is Impossible to determine
Just where we are.
The weather is no worse, but It's not
very good. Fog still covers the earth.
At 2:25 Sasha lies down to sleep di
rectly on the floor. Valery has oc
cupied the bunk for a long time. He
is sleeping soundly.
Within an hour, Sasha wakens.
Seeing the pale sun almost on the ho
rizon, he measures its height. From
somewhere ahead of us and a little
to the right the moon peeps out at us
curiously. Beliakov takes the heigh*
of the moon.
It’s better not to guess at our po
sition. Astronomical calculations can
give us the exact point of our loca
tion. And in fact, in 20 minutes
Sasha declares officially that we are
at the northern extremity of the Char
lotte Islands. 4
Four o'clock. Chkalov wakes up.
He has had a wonderful rest and now
proposes that I do the same thing.
Changing easily, I fall into the bunk
like a dead man and am instantly
asleep.
(Copyright. lB.'i?, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
Airport
(Continued From First Page !
reasonable regulations and establish
charges, fees and lolls for the use of
such airport, fix penalties for the vio
lation of said regulations and estab
lish liens to enforce payment of said
charges, fees and tolls.”
Tile landing area of the airport Is
reserved "wholly for the use of tIre
public and shall not be leased for pub
lic or private purposes.”
The airport Is to be maintained and
operated, tt Is provided in the bill,
"as a public landing field for the
use of private and Federal aircraft,
including aircraft of organized pas
senger and freight lines, under such
regulations and charges as the Sec
retary of Commerce may prescribe.”
Space in public buildings and space
on the airport for erertion of hangars
and other service buildings, however,
may be leased under Commerce De
partment regulations.
Free for Federal Unit.
All departments and agencies of
the United States which operate air
craft are lo have frep use of the air
port. and subject to the consent and
approval of the Secretary of Com
merce. may effect or install struc
tures or improvements which they re
gard as necessary.
me dhi autnortzes annual appro
priations for operation and mainte
nance of the airport, including com
pensation of employes, repairs and
accessories, purchase of supplies and
materials, and the care, installation,
maintenance, repair and operation of
utilities and services. Ail revenues
from operation of the airport are to
be turned into the Treasury as mis
cellaneous receipts.
In addition to the $250,000 appro
propriation for the express highway,
the Secretary of Agriculture is au
thorized to pnter into contracts for
an additional amount not in excess
of $500,000 for construction of the
proposed road.
The route and design of the ex
press highway within the District of
Columbia and the determination of
which bridge over the Anacostia River
shall be the terminus of the high
wav is to be recommended by the Na
tional Capital Park and Planning
Commission and the Commissioners
of the District, it is provided in the
bill.
Commerce Bureau Jurisdiction.
The measure provides that when
the War Department, has completed
construction of the airport and its
equipment, all property, control and
jurisdiction is to be transferred to
the Secretary of Commerce. The bill
waives a provision of section 5 of the
air commerce act of 1926, which ex
pressly forbids the Commerce Depart
ment to operate airports.
After hearing testimony from naval
communications officers that develop
ment of an airport at Camp Springs
would imperil the usefulness of tjie
$1,000,000 naval radio project at
Cheltenham, Md , three miles from the
airport site, the Naval Affairs Sub
committee voted unanimously to op
pose the Camp Springs pioject.
Representative May of Kentucky,
acting chairman of the House Mili
tary Affairs Committee, is seeking to
arrange a meeting of the committee
Tuesday morning to consider his bill,
introduced late Friday, authorizing
closing of Military road and trans
ferring use of the road right-of-way,
a portion of the Arlington Experimen
tal Farm and the Boundary Channel
lagoon to Washington Airport for use
in enlarging the present terminal.
————————————
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When it's 95 degrees outside in the sun, it is apt to !
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>• h
Traxler Joined by Wife
Pete Trailer, shot und seriously wounded in his flight from
a Texas prison, was joined by his wife at the Hugo. Okla.,
Hospital. Three Oklahoma counties seek custody of Trailer
on armed-robbery charges and Texas authorities seek Mrs.
Trailer on a charge of aiding in his escape from the Eastham
Prison Farm. —Copyright, A. P. Wirephoto.
Wins Reno Divorce.
RENO. Nev., July 24 OP).—Mrs.
Margaret H. Burke won an uncon
tested divorce today from Wallace E.
Burke of New York, charging extreme
cruelty. Burke is an executive of the
Standard Oil Co. The couple mar
ried August 26, 1925.
Several deaths were reported during
the recent, heat wave in Wales.
CAYWOOD WILL HEAD
CHEST COMMITTEE
Dodge Announces Acceptance of
Chairmanship for Tenth
Drive This Fall.
C. Chester Caywood, well-known
Washington attorney and civic leader,
hps accepted chairmanship c.t ths
Community Chest's Meeting Commit
tee for the tenth anniversary cam
paign this Fall, it was announced yes
terday by Clarence Phelps Dodge,
president of the Chest.
Caywood Is a veteran Chest worker,
having been associated with the or
ganization since its formation in
1928. At one time he was division
chairman of the Metropolitan Unit.
Three years ago he became asso
ciated with the Meetings Committee,
which has charge of arranging details
for luncheon and night meetings. He
was made chairman of the commit
tee last year and made such a suc
cessful record that he was asked to
undertake the task again.
In this capacity Caywood decides
on the probable number of people
who will attend each meeting, selects
menus and generally arranges the
program. He will start selecting
members of his committee at or.ee.
Irish Players in U. S.
While the famous Abbey Theater
company of Dublin, Irish Free State,
is in America the coming season, Irish
theatergoers at home will be enter
tained by a second company now being
rehearsed.
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