| Summary: | Arctic Pilots Join Search For Soviets: Veteran Flyers Organized In Hunt For Missing Russian. ARCTIC PILOTS JOIN SEARCH FOR SOVIETS Veteran Flyers Organized in Hunt for Missing Russian Aviators. FAIRBANKS, Alaska.— — Veteran Arctic pilots, guardians of the north and heroes of many rescues there, were organized today for a search of the barren tundra and ice-logged seas from Fairbanks to the pole, where a Russian plane was lost with a crew of six men. A soviet flight commission decided in Moscow that the plane was down in the arctic circle, probably on an ice floe and that "iced wings" was the cause of the landing. They had food and supplies for 45 days, including sleeping bags, tent, axes, portable radio and rubber float. They left Moscow, bound for the United States, at 12:13 p. m. (E. D. T.) Thursday. The arctic winter was approaching to plunge the polar area into darkness and bitter cold. There was no definite word since 9:35 a. m. (E. D. T.) Friday, two hours after the plane crossed the north pole flying blindly in a howling storm against a 60-mile headwind. In his last message, Pilot Sigismund Levanevsky, Russia's "Lindbergh," reported that one of the plane's four motors had stalled and he was flying through unbroken clouds. Among those converging on Fairbanks for the search were James Mattern, Joe Crosson, S. E. Robbns and Clyde Armistead.
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