| Summary: | Hops from Tokyo for U.S. coast Hops from Tokyo for U.S. coast Japanese airman, 27, starts flight of 6268 miles In open plane Brave flyer takes life in hand in daring North Pacific ocean by associated press. Tokyo, May 4. (Monday) -- Seiji Yoshiwara, 27-year-old Japanese flyer, took off at 10:10 a.m. today on a 6268-mile flight to San Francisco via the Aleutian islands and British Columbia. A large crowd was at the airport to bid farewell to the aviator as final preparations were made for the flight. Bears message to Hoover. Alone and without radio, the "Lindbergh of Japan," as he is often called, started his light, open seaplane on a good will trip to America carrying to President Hoover a message from the Japanese magazine king, Seiji Noma, principal backer of the flight. He hoped to complete the first stage of the journey to Numasaki, 368 miles north of Tokyo, today. The next jump would take him 297 miles farther north to the extreme tip of Mokkaido island. Then his itinerary calls for flights over the Kurile islands to Petropavlovsk, Siberia, over the Bering sea to the Aleutians and after several stops to Steward, Alaska. Thence he would fly southward to Seattle, then to San Francisco. He would then go to Washington. Chances storms and fogs. The 27-year-old flyer speaks English but poorly but is better versed in German. His ignorance of the language will prove no deterrent to his success, he believes, and he expressed confidence of completing the flight without mishap despite the gales which swirl from the arctic circle and the fog which during May obscures the Aleutian islands more than a quarter of the time. Even the prediction of Thomas Ash Jr., who is planning a nonstop flight to America about May 30, that "It will be almost a miracle if Yoshiwara succeeds," has not deterred him. yank airman dubious. "I wish Yoshiwara all the success in the world," Ash said, "and he needs it. His flight is a most hazardous one. He is alone while the American army flyers in 1924 were able to assist each other in the rough weather over the Pacific. Yoshiwara's greatest handicap will be in locating his refueling stations, which may be obscured by fog.
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