Dole Race

"Say, folks, it's great to be here." With these words the flight for the $25,000 prize offered by James D. Dole, "pineapple king," ended at Wheeler Field, Honolulu. Arthur C. Goebel stepped out of his plane, the Woolaroc, and waved to 30,003 assembled under the clear blue Hawaiian sky. The small figure of a woman raced up to him, exclaiming: "God bless you, where is Martin?" She was Mrs. Martin Jensen, wife of a pilot in the flight. Two hours later Martin Jensen swung his Aloha down from Hawaiian sky, jumped out, into the arms of Mrs. Martin. He had won the second prize, $10,000.

Eighteen airplanes entered for the prize. Eight started. Two crashed; two turned back; two disappeared; two finished.

Sifting qualifications, testing ships (three pilots dying in the process), bickering a little, postponing the starting time, those concerned in the Dole prize flight to Hawaii finally set their stage.

Bennet Griffin, flying the Oklahoma, rose from the ground at Oakland, Calif., for the first takeoff, and the race was on. At intervals behind him rose John W. Frost flying the Golden Eagle; Capt. W. P. Erwin flying the Dallas Spirit; J. Auggy Pedlar flying the Miss Doran (carrying with him Miss Mildred Doran, school teacher from Flint, Mich.); Goebel; and Jensen. Pabco Flyer and El Encanto crashed at the start. Soon Erwin returned with an unlucky windhole in his fuselage. Soon Griffin returned, his engine failing. Out over the blue Pacific flew Goebel, Jensen; Frost, Pedlar; and their navigators; and Pedlar's passenger.

The Woolaroc flew smoothly. In the night an oil brush slipped under the floor boards, and began a pounding vibration; a sound like pistons blowing. Goebel and his pilot, W. C. Davis, seized the water bottle and emergency rations and began peering below them for a soft spot in the sea. The brush vibrated itself into sight. They flew on. They saw land. They saw planes coming to meet them. An army flyer circled close and held up one finger. They knew they had won.

The Aloha had trouble. Three times she went into dangerous tail spins and three times pilot Jensen, stunt flyer, pulled her out. Once, flying low because only close to the sea would their compass work, they bumped a wave; and rose above it. Once the gas pump went wrong. Having no radio for bearings, three hours were wasted shooting the sun. With gas left for a half hour's flying they landed after 28 hours and 5 minutes; nearly two hours behind Goebel. Of the Miss Doran and the Golden Eagle no news. They were last sighted passing the Farallon Islands, 30 miles off San Francisco. They struck the water somewhere between the Farallons and the Hawaiians, almost 2,400 miles beyond.

Two score naval vessels and 20 merchant ships, navy and army planes combed the Pacific. Flint, Mich., and San Francisco proclaimed public prayer for the lost flyers.

Two days latef arose from the Oakland Field Capt. W. P. Erwin and navigator A. W. Eichwaldt in the Dallas Spirit; the wind rent in her fuselage, which had ruined her chances in the race, had been repaired. They were flying for Hawaii, on a hunt for the Golden Eagle and the Miss Doran. The ship was radio equipped. Messages drifted back:

"Just passing Point Lobos (Golden Gate). Love to Ma."

"Just saw a rum runner; had a time keeping Ike in."

"Tell the gentleman who furnished our lunch it was fine, but we can't find the toothpicks." "We went into a tail spin--SOS--delay that. We came out of it but we were sure scared. The lights on the instrument board went out and it was so dark that Bill couldn't see the--we are in a spin --SOS . . ."

At the time of the fatal spin the Dallas Spirit was about 600 miles from San Francisco. Ships rushed to rescue; found nothing.

The Dole flight had killed three men (TIME, Aug. 22); one woman and six men were missing. Airmen criticized; said preparations for the flight had been inefficient; intimated that the fatalities could have been prevented. Among the critics: Ernest L. Smith, first civilian flyer to hop to Honolulu;Carl Wolfley, Vice President of the National Aeronautic Association; Floyd Bennet, Flyer Byrd's comrade on the North Pole flight;

Charles L. Lawrence, inventor of Wright Whirlwind airplane engine.