Flights of the Week

Lindberghs. The legend of Lindbergh infallibility has withstood minor shocks but never a shock like the one it endured last week. After crossing the Bering Sea without mishap and effecting a comparatively happy landing at Petropavlovsk, near the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Lindbergh troubles began. They continued for four days while headlines describing the oriental odyssey in occidental newspapers grew wide with astonishment.

First a heavy fog. "white darkness," delayed the Lindberghs' take-off from Petropavlovsk for the dangerous 897-mile hop over the Kurile Islands to Nemuro (pop. 5,000) at the northwest extremity of Hokkaido. While the Lindberghs waited, Nemuro made ready for the ceremony which was to herald their arrival. An influx of newshawks, cameramen and inquisitive Japanese left only two hotel rooms vacant in the town. These were reserved for the flyers. Volunteers from the Young Men's Christian Association planned to stay up, all night if need be, till the plane was reported passing Yetorofu Island. Then rockets would be sent up to welcome the flyers into the harbor. Places were reserved for 3,000 school children to sing to them from Nemuro beach; a green arch had been erected for them to walk under. Nemuro's geisha girls were ready to dance in their honor and a Banzai band had rehearsed, for their amazement. "The Star Spangled Banner." Finally, the fog lifted and the Lindberghs took off from Petropavlovsk, a day behind schedule.

A few minutes after the take-off minor motor trouble developed. The plane paused for two hours at Avatcha Bay while Col. Lindbergh made repairs, took off again for Nemuro. This time the plane stayed up for half the distance to Nemuro when a radio message from Anne Lindbergh was picked up by the Ochishi radio station. It said: "Unknown where we are because of fog" and asked what was the best place to come down. "Muroton Bay'' (where Japanese Aviator Seiji Yoshihara recently cached gasoline while trying to fly to the U.S.) was the answer. The Lindberghs looped back but failed to reach Muroton Bay and landed instead on the lee side of Ketoi, a volcanic, sparsely vegetated dot among inhospitable Kurile Islands. The Kuriles are inhabited mainly by a people known as hairy Ainus who live in caves, hunt and fish with primitive weapons.

Messages from the Lindberghs insisted that they were in no danger and intended to spend the night in their plane which has broad leather seats at the rear of both cockpits but no room to stand up or lie down full length. Nonetheless, the Japanese Government steamer Shimnshiru Maru was on hand off Ketoi next morning. The Lindberghs were glad to go on board; the Colonel described the previous night as "the most uneasy in my experience."

There was fog in the morning and he planned to taxi the 15 miles to Muroton, wait there for clearer weather. When he tried to start, he found carburetor trouble, tied the plane to the Shimushiru and tried to repair it. His efforts were unsuccessful. Finally it was necessary to tie the plane to the ship and tow it. Even this was a failure. The towline broke, the plane was saved ,only by the agile efforts of the

Colonel and the Shimushiru's crew who were described as being animated by "the indomitable spirit of the flyer himself." At Muroton, the Colonel worked on his motor till late in the evening, spent the rest of the night on a government fox farm whose three guards are the only inhabitants of Shimushiru Island. In the morning the Lindberghs rose at 5 o'clock, finally got the motor going and took off, from the quiet cliff-enclosed harbor, for Nemuro.

Fog promptly forced them down again, first at Eturup Island, where they stayed at a village inn; next day at Lake Annoro, where they spent another night in the plane and where the inhabitants lit fires on the lake shore to frighten away bears. Next day the Lindberghs flew the last 50 miles to Nemuro. From the balcony of the Nibiki Ryokan, where their beds had awaited them for four nights, Col. Lindbergh addressed the cheering populace. "We are glad to be in Nemuro," said he.

Laggard, The DO-X, largest flying boat, last week resumed her laggard nine-month journey from Switzerland. Proceeding by easy stages from Belem, Brazil, where two motors had been replaced, she paused at San Juan to pick up a passenger. He was George Washington Grouse. Syracuse, N.Y. grocer, onetime passenger on the Graf Zeppelin. So eager was he to extend his accomplishments that he had waited two weeks for the arrival of the DO-X. After a stop at Cuba, the DO-X settled comfortably at Miami. Riding at anchor in Biscayne Bay, she was inspected by hordes of curious Miamians and by big brown pelicans which flapped overhead, stared down curiously at her twelve engines, set in tiers of six. After the stop at Miami, the DO-X planned to amble up the coast to New York.

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