Show arf 4 i v sy f i uth v r 1 bp ib X 12 tt f 45 V AZUA VC ca wa A U X r L PA ac ar DO ma pit I 1 N H 97 IV w lu mait his SAS TASMA r V by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OMMA HR richard B H byrd has announced that he will try arv to add it to his laurels as an explorer gained by being the first to fly by to the north pole and among the first to make a nonstop flight across the atlantic v y by flying over the south pole within the next two years not the least of the interest in this latest project of the gallant virginian la Is its significance as a connecting link between antarctic and arctic exploration the first man to reach the south pole was rould amundsen the norwegian explorer who achieved the goal in 1911 last year mr hr amundsen was in the party which flew a dirigible to the north pole soon after commander byrd had bad made his epic dash there by airplane now corn mander byrd Is going into the regions where amundsen won his fame sort of repaying the visit as aa it wpm aci e but commander byrds project Is to be more than just a dash to the south pole so that he can say that be has flown to te the uttermost ends of the earth I 1 both north and south it Is to be a scientific expedition which Is expected to open im unknown continent twice the size of the united states to the knowledge of mankind the two explorers amundsen and scott who did reach the pole found only a lifeless plain there several other explorers have skirted along the edgo of the great lee ice fields which surround the antarctic continent and one or two of them have penetrated it for some distance only to lose their ships or to be frozen in for an antarctic winter so that mot today this great plateau which has an altitude of feet is the modem unknown continent and by crossing it from coast to coast in two directions by visiting its center and its four corners comers commander byrd hopes to discover some of its secrets especially does docs he hope to reveal the fact that there to Is on this continent forms of animal and plant life bit hitherto herto unknown to man loan and it if he to Is successful it la Is likely that the tha penguin so well known to ill all explorers in thise region will no longer be the symbol of 0 the antarctic just as the polar bear Is the symbol of the arctic 1 I feel certain that somewhere in that tha t vast area there are wide stretches of lowland where extreme the Ant antarctic ardic record milos mil from year tear explorer pole pol 1771 Cook ull isis 1821 run RUB elan alan 1408 im to 18 23 arrall Mor relI american 1893 18 Wed doll british 1102 1831 bischo british 1481 1464 1811 1839 knox american 1400 1840 durville french 1941 1046 1842 noil 28 1874 british 1633 isag Oar lacha belgian 1821 1828 1900 british 1902 scott british 1903 swedish 1671 1903 1902 Drye alakl german 1424 1904 bruce british 1118 1905 1906 Charcot french 1559 1909 shackleton kIeton british ill III 1911 amundsen glan I 1 pole HH pole 1918 hackelton british 97 1928 byrd american low temperatures do not cot exist and aad believe that it we are success successful fulla in find ing such roch an area we will find a completely new form orm of animal life said bald commander byrd recently so tar far the discovery of animal life in the antarctic has been confined to b birds do macro fish seals and a few species of micro organisms inland where the th great plateaus stretch out to the pole there Is 1 nothing the temperature which even in summer gets down to 80 or 40 degrees below zero tero and which sinks far below that in winter to la too extreme for animal life of any sort because of the extreme temperatures which commander byrd mentions as a well as several other factors factora characteristic of that region antarctic exploration Is even more perilous ilous than arctic among these other factors are the blizzards of high velocity which sweep down from the plateau and these winds laden with snow and fine particles of tee ice often reach a speed of 70 miles an hour it was in one of these blizzards that the gullant callant capt robert P r scott lost his lifo in that tragic retreat from the south pole in 1012 1912 when he be perished only eleven miles from his bis base and safety the antarctic has special perils tor for the aviator explorer because the wind conditions there are further complicated by numerous mountain ranges and lofty peaks some of them as high as feet and two of them active volcanoes in view of the perilous nature of this expedition commander byrd Is 13 taking unusual precautions and making the most careful preparations before setting out it was first announced that he would start this tall fall but a later announcement indicates that tho the size of the expedition and the many things that must most be accomplished have hare made this impossible commander byrd has decided that no n less than a year of forethought and attention to minute detail will babec bo necessary to reduce the hazards of the trip the generah plan is to son sail first to new zealand and from there to strike out for the tee ice pack on the border of ross sea after penetrating this too loo barrier he be will set et up lop his bli permanent bate base near discovery harbor where tr he will build his hl houses assemble hla plane and make a number of test teat flights two planes will be taken one large three motor ship phlp capable of lifting pounds and the other a small tingle single motor plane commander byrd will load the smaller plane with fix all mont months lis supplies of food and spate spare cans cana of oo oil and gasoline and fly by miles toward the south pole it if be finds ands conditions favorable be willi land set up a base take and return to the home bass base tot for a nee ae ond and I 1 load then by a series f bad abort flights he will set down a allne line of evier emergency basis base to within 00 or miles mile of the pole from the he lashof last of th these be b will make the long flight to his goel goal land 14 if possible and then return it if the trip to the pole Is in successful wa and winter has ha not closed in byrd wm also make flights to the southeast and southwest somewhere at the foot of X ithe great plateau he will also skirt the coastline flying over thousands thou sanda and thousands of square miles never before seen by man if all of hla his plim plan are successful for the first time la history the great antarctic conti continent neit will at last be charted and mapped although the exploring will be done mainly by the two planes it la Is interesting to note that equipment aim liar flar to that of previous explorers ploren ex alto also be taken along on hla his polar flight commander byrd WM will carry cam a sled aled pemmican to last many months sleeping baga bag oil burners oklis and snowshoes snowa hoes so eo that it he Is forced to land and abandon the plane he willi will be b able to trek back over the plateau to the home basl base it la Is for far this reason also 1180 that the food supplies wol wilt be planted along the afie route to the pole and these are only a few of the innumerable details which must be thought of before the expedition deft te out in this polar expedition perhaps the most important of modern modem times the margin between success and failure will be very small smail nothing will be left to chance and if adequate preparation tor for every possible xon con tangency counts for anything the expedition tion should be successful and commander byrd the afta to reach the north pole by air will itil also be the first to carry the stars and stripes stripe to the other eni end of the earth |