Northwest History. State History. Aeronautics, Continued Airports, Commercial Service. Air Races & Shows & Non-Stop Flights. 1931 to 1937.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1931
• Subjects: Seattle; Aviation history; Reg L. Robbins; H. S. Jones; Fort Worth; Aviators; Tokyo; Weather; Nonstop flight; Fairbanks; Lockhead Vega plane; Prince George; Fraser river; Hazelton; Northwest History > History > 20th century; United States > Aeronautics; Continued Airports; Commercial Service > 20th Century; Fraser River; Yukon; Nome; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/141082

Seattle To Tokyo Flight, Via Alaska, Is Started. SEATTLE TO TOKYO FLIGHT, VIA ALASKA, IS STARTED BULLETIN. SEATTLE, July 8.—-The Postal Telegraph reported that at 9:30 a.m. the Seattle-Tokyo plane was sighted over Prince George, B. C., 450 miles north of Seattle. The machine was to leave the Fraser river at this point and fly northwest to Hazelton, B. C. SEATTLE, July 8. (/P)—Aviation history was in the making today with Reg L. Robbins and H. S. Jones, Fort Worth, Texas aviators, on their way on a non-stop, midair refueling flight from Seattle to Tokyo. In their snow white high wing monoplane "Fort Worth" the two intrepid airmen zoomed into a misty sky over Seattle at 3:57 a.m. (P. S. T) headed toward British Columbia, Yukon territory and Alaska. The remainder of their journey will take them over Bering straits and down the coast of Siberia. 5100-Mile Flight. Robbins and Jones hoped to be the first to accomplish the dangerous 5100-mile nonstop flight and win a $25,000 prize offered by a Japanese newspaper. WEATHER IDEAL SEATTLE, July 8. (AP)-Weather conditions were declared "ideal" by the government bureau at Boeing airport when Reg Robbins and H. S. Jones left there today on their two-day nonstop flight to Tokyo. Jones estimated that the Fort Worth would reach Fairbanks in about 17 hours, or at 9 o'clock tonight, and fly over Nome six hours later. He figured that the plane should reach Tokyo around 7 a.m. (P. S. T.) Friday. The Texans will take turns at piloting with Jones doing the navigating in his spare time. Their two compartments are seperated by the huge gasoline tank in the cabin and to change places they have to crawl through a narrow space between the tank and the top of the plane. Expect Some Best. They have room in the rear compartment to lie down on the floor and they expect to get some rest that way. The ship is not equipped with radio. The Fort Worth is a Lockheed Vega plane and has a 225 horsepower Wright motor. It has a cruising speed of about 95 miles per hour.