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Show Here Is Richardson's Own Story of Transocean Trip Pilot of NC-3 Tells Gripping Grip-ping Tale of Flight From Trepassey to Azores. BY COMMANDER HOLDEN C. RICHARDSON. RICH-ARDSON. Pilot of NC-3. (Copyright. 19 19, by Universal Service.) LISBON, May 27. After leaving Trepassey Tre-passey Friday evening all went well with us until 9:30, New York time, Saturday morning. At that time we had covered "00 knots, or 1380 land miles, in 1.3 hours. From the time we passed station ship No. l'i wo had passed through five hours of rain squalls and fog. so thick at times as to make it impossible to see tho horizon hori-zon or the surfaee of the ocean. The air was so rough that, the navigator navi-gator was not satisfied with the accuracy ac-curacy of h:s siKhts. We had sighted no patrols after passing destroyer No. 1 :s and considered It advisable advis-able to make a sa landing in order to determine our position. The only vessel wo had seen was far off to the southward of our eou rse. as we figured la I er. It probably was tho I'. S. S. Marblehead. Gas Supply Runs Low. Prom the appearance of tho sea, n landing land-ing seemed . feasible, and the division commander, after consultation with the pilots, agreed to make the attempt, because be-cause our as supply was runirtig low aid it was es.-mtial to employ what we had t" the bi-M advantage. Bcs'des. in thr frequent squalls, it was (Continued on Paee 1.1, Column 3.) RICHARDSON TELLS STORY OF AIRFLIGHT (Continued from Page One.) not impossible that we should suddenly run into land with mountains ahead. Accordingly, we swung around for a spiral landing and, approaching the surface sur-face cautiously, picked a suitable opportunity, op-portunity, throttled the engines close to the surface and made contact. The first contact was on the crest of a sharp wave, which dropped from under us: the next was on the far side of . the next wave, in a deep hollow. We went up well and Btalled the engine, expecting to stick, but this wave also dropped sharply and let us fall heavily on the sharp , crest of the following wave. Hull Badly Damaged. The last blow was a sharp one, and examination ex-amination showed that the hull had been severely damaged. The tubular struts of the front center engine were bent like a bulldog's legs and the flying wires in the engine panels were very slack, due to the settling of the wings. The aileron leads were also slack. A further exam- . inttLiun snuwea me nuu to oe leaning ior-ward, ior-ward, but not dangerously. The hull longitudinals were buckled and cracked, as well as several floor frames. Thjs bottom bot-tom planking still held, but the principal princi-pal bulkheads were damaged locally where they delivered their load to the main hull trusses. One truss wire was carried away. It was at once apparent that It would be impracticable to resume the flight even if the surface was smooth, which was not the case. Ten to twelve-foot waves were running, superimposed on a heavy ground swell. Banner." The crowd then formed an impromptu parade and cheered us again and again. As soon as we cabled home to let our families know we were safe, we took hot baths and made ourselves more presentable. pre-sentable. Then we had dinner and were glad to get a chance to sleep in real beds once mure. AVe enjoyed a good night's rest, knowing that those at home aiso would sleep, knowing we were safe. serious damage to the hull. The idea, therefore, was abandoned In favor of sailing to the leeward and trusting trust-ing that the wind would remain favorable, favor-able, so as to permit us to make the course that would carry us northward of St. Michael, through the patrol set for NO-4 between Horta and Ponta Delgada, and possibly tn the route of shipping. This decision was arrived at after serious seri-ous misgivings. It Involved another night at sea and it was hard to givo up the sight of land. The seas were runing at times thirty feet high and a 40 to 45 knot wind was blowing. Constant vigilanco was necessary at the controls to keep from yawing and losing our remaining float. We got such sleep as we could off watch, which was seldom more than two hours at a stretch. It was almost Impossible Impos-sible to sleep when one did get the chance, with the wings rattling and the water swashing around In the hull. Plenty of Water. We had plenty of radiator water to drinJff, but it was rusty. We aiso had sandwiches, candy and chocolate. None of ts really suffered from hunger, thirst or exposure and none of us was seasick. In the meantime we learned by stern necessity how to fly backward. Only owce in a while were we caught by cross seas which put our left wing tip under. The cross-chop was the most difficult to handle. The wave crests frequently jammed the lower wings at mid -length, carrying away the wing ribs by a steady process of disintegration. Fortunately, after the squall was over, we were able to resume our course duo east, A sun sight about 9 a. m., Greenwich, Green-wich, showed that St. Michael should be sighted shortly dead anead. Visibility now Improved rapidly. While Commander Towers was communicating the news to' the pilots. Boatswain Moore sighted land ahead at 10:23 Greenwich time. The land was soon made out to be St. Michael. The effect of the discovery was remarkable. re-markable. All hands fully realized the seriousness of the situation and the consequences con-sequences that might at any time follow the loss of the right wing tip float, but aside from maJting preparations to make fresh water available in case wo should capsize and providing Iash.lngs to fasten us to the wreckage, none of us communicated communi-cated our thoughts to the others. End of Voyage. Thus we fin' shed a voyage of more than 120u nautical miles and a water run of more than 205 nautical miles. The harbor was a perfect bedlam, with whistles blowing on all the steamers, crews wildly cheering and the shores lined with cheering crowds. Ships' boats and shore boats were eh -ilng madly about the harbor trying to render assistance assist-ance or to see us and to greet us and get our Pictures. It was wonderful. The sun was still h'.gh, the ships were dressed witli flags and the colors Rtooti out brilliantly as the flags whipped 6 breeze. The scene whm one riftver to he forgotten and with our relief from the long strain our feelings cannot be described. de-scribed. As soon ns we had secured the plane at the moorings, we gt our things to-i to-i gether and made our way to shore. Ad-i Ad-i miral Jackson and his staff. Captain Wort man, the governor of the inlands, the T ,'nited States consul, the president of the town council and others were on hand to welcome us. We were tir-'d and dirty, but happy, t for all hands on the thre p'anes were accounted for. We had our sea lgs on I and for w;uit of the usual exercise we , reeled on the way up the .t.-ps of the j admiral's quarters. 1 As soon as the reception was over and we had been very muoh photographed, we i had to appear on the batony, while the local band rendered "The Stkr Sp-ngled Messages Not Acknowledged. To communicate by radio it was necessary neces-sary to relocate the radio generator In the slipstream of the propellers. This was done, and by running the port engine we were able to radiate for a range of ten miles, buf although we could hear the patrol boats working, our messages were not acknowledged. From our supposed position, which we later confirir.ed, we were about forty-five miles southwest of Horta. The wind favoring us, we started to sail astern on a course that would take us toward the Azores. About 2 p. m. we intercepted a wireless report that NC-4 was at Horta alongside the Columbia and ready to proceed pro-ceed to Punta Delgada the next day. The NC-1 i was reported down with a damaged left wing and the search for her was on. Still More Trouble. At 4 p. m. we set the watch and I took the trick from 4 to 8. Nothing unusual occurred in that period. I got about three hours' sleep, though the racking of the wings on the hull and the swash of the water in the hull were rather disconcerting. discon-certing. My sleep was far from satis: fylng. On the following morning. Sunday, 1 stood the 2 to 4 watch. At about 2:30 the seas increased, and while coasting down the face of a big wave the lower elevator caught in the water, wrenching the tail badly ;md starting the 1e.va.tor to carry away. At 4 o'clock it was trailing on the edge of the left lower wing and caught and broke the fails of the wing ribs. We soon decided to cut away the broken portion. Just twenty-two hours after landing, the left tip float broke away and put us In serious condition. Seeking Assistance. One of the crew had lo go out on the right wing tip to kcop the left Wing from going under. We then tried a broadcast "S. O. S.," glv'nS "r position and asking ask-ing for fissintance. We also flew our ensign en-sign as a distress signal. We got no acknowledgments. ac-knowledgments. We could not open up the port engine because It threw the screw Into the waves and also made It pound so hard on the roug hseas that there was danger of starling serious leakage. . Running the screw involved the danger that the right wing tip float would be wrenched loose. Besides, the mounting of this engine was loosened by the rough landing and the engine racked badly at 1000 revolutions per minute. We found It necessary to man the controls con-trols and sail astern and, to prevent the plane from vawlng. the two pilots, assisted assist-ed by the pilot-engineer, stood watch and watch until we tied, up at Fonta Del-gad Del-gad o. Crew Kept Busy. Meanwhile the oth-'r members of the crew were not Idle. It was necessary for the navigator to keep track of position and course and whoever was available took turns standing on the right wing tip or pumping out water, tightening the wing tip float wires and cutting away damaged portions of the lower wings as thev continued to disintegrate. The radio opera tor. when not otherwise other-wise engaged, kept listening in at Intervals Inter-vals and continued to attempt signalling. He inter'-onted a message teliinc of the rescue of iti crew of NC-1. This was (rood news to us and we expected soon to see soixie destroyer come racing our wav later ve were heartened to l-arn that the search for us was on to the west 0t u T-Vt a. m.. New York time. Sunday, wc lighted Pico In a bank of land clouds. Penr-mgs and a sun sight enabled us to locate 'ourselves as 45 miles southeast of Fico M'e ha.d two hours' gas left ani derated whether we should attempt to t ixi in to htnd. It looked impracticable Nnvevcr in the heavy seas running and would almost certainly have Inyolvea t ie lea of our richt wins float ana probao.c |