Northwest History. Alaska. Distance Flights.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1937
• Subjects: Moscow-to-U.S. plane; Fairbanks; Russ flyers; Seattle; fear; Sigismund Levaneffsky; soviet Lindbergh; transpolar flight; Moscow; the United States; army communications officers; A. Vartanian; Barrow; fog; Alaska; Point Schmidt; army signal corps; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska Point; Arctic; Pacific; Siberia
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90312

Fear For Safety Of Russ Flyers: Moscow-to-U.S. Plane Overdue At Fairbanks. FEAR FOR SAFETY OF RUSS FLYERS Moscow-to-U.S. Plane Overdue at Fairbanks. By Associated Press. SEATTLE, Aug. 13.—Fear was felt tonight for the safety of Sigismund Levaneffsky, the "soviet Lindbergh" and his five-man crew on their transpolar flight from Moscow to the United States. The plane, last heard from at 7 a. m., Pacific standard time, today, was four hours overdue in Fairbanks, Alaska, its first destination, at 5:15 p. m., Pacific standard time. Taking off yesterday from Moscow at 7:15 a. m., Pacific standard time, Levaneffsky estimated the flight to Fairbanks, a distance of 4100 miles, would require 30 hours. This would have set the plane, down in the far northern city around noon. Army communications " officers and ether officials here, allowing for headwinds, had estimated the flyers would land in Fairbanks around 4 p. m., P. S. T. At 5:15 p. m. the flyers had been 34 hours in the air if the ship was • Observers Are Alarmed. While A. Vartanian, flight representative here for the soviet government, refused to comment, observers who have been watching progress of the flight admitted they were alarmed over failure of the plane to arrive within the allotted time. Earlier in the day, the federal weather bureau reported dense fog at Barrow on the Alaskan arctic coast but other points in Alaska reported clear skies. Army signal corps officers here had reported at 8:39 a. m., P. S. T. today, the flyers were bucking terrific headwinds. The corps officers did not receive the message direct but intercepted a message from the plane to Russia, sent at 3 a. m., P. S. T. Reports from Fairbanks said the last contact with the ship was at 7 a. m., P. S. T., when the wireless station at Point Schmidt, north Siberia, heard the plane transmit her signal letters. At no time during the flight has the army signal corps received an acknowledgement from the flyers of the transmission of frequent weather reports.