Oslo, Norway, March 28—(AP)—Preparations for the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar Flight in May are nearing the final stage. On a hill just outside Oslo a mooring mast nearly one hundred feet high has been erected for the airship “Norge,” in which the flight is to be made. The dirigible, constructed in Italy, is now being inspected by Captain Roald Amundsen, who arrived in Rome for that purpose last Friday, it will soon be brought from Rome to Oslo.
The auxiliary vessel “Hobby,” which was used in the Polar flight of 1925, has left Trondhjem for Svalbardi (the new Norwegian name for Spitzbergen), with equipment or the expedition, consisting of material for the mooring mast at King’s Bay and hydrogen for the airship. A hangar has already been completed at King’s Bay.
Lincoln Ellsworth arrived from the United States some time ago and has taken up wrestling in order to be in good shape physically for the expedition. He is also studying navigation and meteorology daily at the nautical school. The American explorer will
leave for Svalbardi early next month, going thence to Kings Bay to receive the airship when it arrives there.
Ellsworth shares the leadership of the expedition on equal terms with Amundsen. The expedition will be under the Norwegian flag, a point on which Amundsen has insisted from the beginning, and accepted by Ellsworth and the Italian members of the expedition.
This year’s expedition will include several Norwegians who had a part in the 1925 expedition—Lieutenant Riiser-Larsen, Lieutenant Dietrichson and Lieutenant Omdahl.
The leaders expect to cover the distance from Svalbardi over the Pole to Point Barrow in two and a half days, and, if possible, they will proceed with the airship to Seattle by way of Nome, Alaska.
When emptied, the benzine tanks will be dropped from the dirigible with an enclosed statement in each, giving the position of the ship at the time. If these tanks are picked up they will show to what extent they have drifted with the Polar currents.
The “Norge” is to be equipped with Marconi sending and receiving apparatus, the power being derived from a 3000 volt generator operated by a benzine motor or by wind propellers. It will be capable of receiving messages on wave lengths from 300 to 25,000 meters.
Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME, March 29, 1926