Northwest History. Aviation 8. Rescue & Searching Parties, United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1937
• Subjects: Fairbanks; Alaska; Jimmie Mattern; Sigismund Levaneffsky; transpolar hop; Moscow; Oakland; Vartanian; Barrow; search; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Aviation; Pacific
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/86039

Mattern Drops Hunt For Plane. MATTERN DROPS HUNT FOR PLANE FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Aug. 25. UP)—Jimmie Mattern, noted American pilot, withdrew tonight from the search for Sigismund Levaneffsky and his five companions lost in an attempted transpolar hop from Moscow to Oakland. "We have done everything possible," Mattern explained. "We were closer to the estimated position of the plane than any one else —at times flew blind hoping to hear Levaneffsky's radio had he been sending. We heard and saw nothing." ' The decision to withdraw was announced after Mattern conferred with A. Vartanian, soviet representative directing the search of a dozen planes for the six airmen who dropped from sight on Friday, August 13. "It is most difficult to get gasoline to Barrow by boat, and my previous plans to obtain fuel were wrecked by the crash of my refueling ship near Fairbanks. To equip another plane for refueling would take from six to eight weeks. "By that time weather conditions would make flying impossible."