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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0524.PDF
JUNE 21, 1S2S ARCTIC FLIGHTS Capt. Sir G. H. Wilkins' Two Papers in One Evening IN attempting to record in any detail the lecture by Capt.Sir G. H. Wilkins, M.C., to the Royal Aeronautical Society, with which is incorporated the Institution of AeronauticalEngineers on June 14, 1928, one is faced with some little difficulty. The famous explorer had written one paper, aprinted copy of which was sent around. He then proceeded to give an entirely different lecture, without once referringto notes or to the printed paper. Under the circumstances, the best one can hope for is, perhaps, a few scattered recollec-tions of the spoken lecture, interspersed here and there with passages from the printed paper. The discussion whichfollowed was not a discussion but a series of questions, and thus the task of the unfortunate recorder is further compli-cated. As was to be expected, the attendance was very large, the fair sex being particularly well represented. Col. the Master of Sempill was in the chair, and beforeasking the lecturer to give his paper, he recalled that Capt. Wilkins had, apart from his work of exploration, been flyingsince 1910, and that in 1919 he was one of several who attempted the London to Australia flight which the brothersSmith accomplished so successfully. Sir Hubert Wilkins then proceeded to relate some of hisexperiences in arctic flying, and from these it was evident that although he made light of them, there had been no lackof exciting moments. Particularly vivid was his descrip- tion, given in an ordinary conversational voice and devoidof any attempt at " effect," of an experience of flying in clouds and fog in Alaska. He, with Eielson as pilot, wastrying to get across a mountain range which was reported to be only a few thousand feet high. Looking out of one ofthe side windows, the lecturer saw mountains close to the wing tip, and shouted to the pilot to turn so as to avoidhitting them. Eielson's answer was : "I can't. There are mountains on my side too." The machine was already atits ceiling, and consequently could be persuaded to climb no higher. There was nothing for it but to go on straightahead. On happening to look downwards when the danger was past, the lecturer noted for the first time that the wheelwhich was visible from his window was spinning fast, just as a wheel does immediately after a machine has taken off.Neither he nor Eielson felt any bump, but they concluded that in getting through the gap between the mountains, theirwheels must have touched the snow enough to be set spinning ! The great object of all the lecturer's work in Polar regions,and this was obviously the red thread running through all his accounts, the raison d'etre of all his endeavours, was theestablishment of a circle of observation stations approxi- mately on 80 degrees latitude in the Arctic and Antarcticregions, from which regular reports could be collected and made available. Once that was done, the lecturer thoughtthat so much might be learned by the meteorologists that it would in time—not at once but sometime in the future—become possible to forcast seasonal changes in the weather, and thus to give warning of the coming of conditions whichat present led to famine in such contries as Australia, China, India, and South America. That was evidently the ultimateobject of the lecturer's great work, and his flights in the Arctic were but means to an end. We point this out because it isof some importance that one should realise that the knight- hood was bestowed upon Sir Hubert Wilkins not for a specta-cular " stunt " flight across the Polar wastes, but for his long and extremely useful work in examining the possibilities ofestablishing bases for arctic observatories to be established if found feasible, in the interests of mankind. He has butused aircraft to facilitate that work, and not to gain notoriety for himself. In these days of personal advertising, it isgood to find a man who endeavours and achieves for the benefit of the human race, and not for any personal gains. With this digression we may return to the paper and thelecture. Of his long work in the interests of exploration the lecturer spoke but little, but it was not difficult for theintelligent listener to realise how that work (we are referring now,to the " foot-slogging " and not particularly to the flyingside), had fitted him for making the best possible use of the facilities which the rapid travel by air has to offer. Also,apart from his familiarity with the appearance of the Arctic wastes and consequent ability to interpret readily what heobserved, the lecturer's training with Stefansson had very evidently enabled him to tackle with a fair prospect of successproblems which the " tenderfoot " would not be able to solve. Such as, for example, the problem of how to survive and get back to civilisation in case of a forced landing on the ice andthe necessity for abandoning the aeroplane. Where, one not accustomed by long training to the hardships and difficultiesof travel on foot would in all probability succumb, a man like the lecturer would know how to " live off the country," andwould therefore have a chance of getting back with his information. Of the actual flight from Alaska to Spitzbergen, Sir Hubertsaid comparatively little. The flight was undertaken deli- berately as part of a greater scheme, which was, put verybriefly, to fly out from the Alaskan base in various directions looking for land whereon possibly observation stations mightbe established. In 1926 and 1927, such out-and-back flights were undertaken. There remained but the North-eastern sector. Had land been found on that, Eielson and Wilkins would have either alighted there to examine it, orat least marked down its location and returned to their Alaskan base, to reach the newly-discovered land again onsome future occasion. If no land was sighted, it was the intention, should conditions be favourable, to carry on toSpitzbergen. As it happened, no land was sighted, and after a briefconsultation, Eielson and Wilkins decided to carry on. The latter was fairly certain from his experience of Arcticweather, that at Spitzbergen they would encounter a storm and bad weather generally. However, he asked the pilotwhat he thought, and after considering the matter for a few moments, Eielson replied : "I am willing to go on if youthink you can find the way." According to expectations, they did meet very bad weather on arriving near theirdestination, and had to make a landing at a small island, known as Dead Man's Island. Here they were stormbound for five days, but at last the weather moderated enough to enable them to get to Spitzbergen. Concerning his experience in flying in Arctic conditions,the lecturer gave an account of the 1926 and 1927 flights, the machines used the first year being a three-enginedFokker with "Whirlwind" engines and a single-engined Fokker with Liberty engine. No real trouble was experi-enced. For the 1927 flights, a small Stinson biplane, also with Whirlwind engine was used. The Lockheed Vegamonoplane used this year, and in which the actual flight from Alaska to Spitzbergen was made, was quite a smallaffair, and again the Whirlwind was the power plant. Sir Hubert gave the following brief particulars of it: Span,41 ft. ; maximum chord, 8 ft. 6 in. ; area, 275 sq. ft. Weight, empty, 1,500 lb. The lecturer stated that the machinecarried a load of 3,500 lb., but this seems improbable, and what was probably meant was that, with full load, it weighed3,500 lb. The machine was of wood construction, and appa- rently gave no trouble at all. The engine had a tendency toget too cold, and in order to keep it warm, long portions of the flight had to be made by alternately climbing and side-slipping. This meant running the engine close to full power for quite a large percentage of the flight, but, apparently,with no ill effect, except that the amount of fuel consumed was a good deal greater than would otherwise have been thecase. On the Alaskan side of the Arctic sea, the lecturer said,the snow rarely lay more than about 1 ft. deep on top of the ice, and it was quite possible to use a wheel under-carriage. On the Spitzbergen side, however, the snow was deeper, and skis became necessary. The " Vega " was sofitted. The Discussion As we have already mentioned, the discussion followingSir Hubert Wilkins' paper turned out to be mainly a series of questions asked. We do not propose to give the questionsin detail, as the nature of them will in the main be clear from Sir Hubert's replies. Mr. Griffith Brewer refrainedfrom asking questions, and instead, he congratulated the lecturer on the way he had spoken absolutely fluently formore than an hour without once referring to any notes. He pointed out that this was the first non-stop flight inhistory which had started in the Pacific and finished in Europe. He also congratulated Eielson on paying his firstvisit to Europe via Spitzbergen. Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation, said thatduring the war he had the privilege to command an air service unit, and he then formed the opinion that theAustralians were going to prove the best pilots in the world. 472
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