U. S. Army Airplanes Hurdle the High Andes, Brave Brazil Jungles, and Follow Smoking Volcanoes S to Map New Sky Paths Around South America BY MAJOR HERBERT A. DARGUE* U. S. Army Air Corps, Flight Commander INCE the golden age of Pizarro and Magellan, of Sir Francis Drake and bold buccaneers of the Spanish Main, adventurers from the Seven Seas have scattered their bones along Aztec and Inca trails from Mexico to the Horn. In all the eventful annals of exploration, no other land ever excited men's imaginations more than has this vast and still only partially known area which we call Latin America. First came the halcyon days of Columbus, Cortez, and Balboa, bearded men in armor, with the Cross in one hand and a Toledo blade in the other-daring days of incomparable achievement, when a few score Spaniards with courage and craft conquered the far-flung Montezuma Empire, and hordes of Indians threw away their spears and ran from the frightful, centaurian aspect of men on horses. Then another age of adventure and roughhewn romance that saw whaling fleets and gold-mad California treasureseekers rounding the cold, stormy Horn or seeking a short cut to fortune through the jungled gates of Panama. Now our own day of exploration, with its restless quest for mines, ranches, raw materials, railroad rights, and oil fields-a quest that sends thousands adventuring, from the Rio Grande down to Patagonia, building up a great mutual commerce, helping Latin America develop its own rich resources, and finding a market here for its own surplus products. But adventure always and the romantic lure of that ever-amazing Latin America a kingdom of contrasts between icy *The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to all members of the Pan American Flight for data taken from their journals, especially to Capt. Ira C. Eaker, the official historian of the flight, and Frederick Simpich. peaks and humid jungles, between grass. huts of savages and marble palaces of classic cities old in culture; a beckoning land, inviting exploration now just as when Columbus came; a challenging land, with little-known, uninhabited regions, perilous to fly over, waiting now to be discovered from the air by the winged Pintas, Niñas, and Santa Marías of today. GAS-BURNING DOVES OF PEACE START So I was happy when told I should take an airplane and fly 22,000 miles, from Texas down to Patagonia and back; from Texas, by air, over the pagan Toltec Trail, past smoking Central American volcanoes; over the tombs and ruined cities of the Anáhuacs and Incas; down the faraway coast of distant Chile; up among the clouds and giant condors of the high Andes; out across the wide, flat pampas; up the long, lonely, jungle-lined shores of Brazil, and then home across the friendly blue water and green isles of the Caribbean, blazing a new trail in the conquest of the air (see map, page 452). The Pan American Good Will Flight, this long air voyage was called, and the fleet of U. S. Army planes under my command were sent to carry friendly greetings from Uncle Sam to twenty nations of Latin America, stretching from Mexico down to Argentina. Roaring up from Kelly Field on the morning of December 21, 1926, circling over San Antonio and the old Alamo in the clear, bright air of Texas, we pointed our amphibian noses boldly toward Cape Horn, waved adieu to cheering friends, and were off on the first aërial circumnavigation of the Southern Continent ever attempted. TESTING ONE OF THE AMPHIBIANS FOR THE 22,065-MILE FLIGHT An odd feature of this plane is that its 400-horsepower Liberty engine is inverted. This was necessary so the propeller might have sufficient swing without cutting the forward end of the hull. The three steel blades of the propeller may be set at any angle, depending on performance required. In each of our five planes there were two officers. In the flagship New York I had as my associate First Lieut. E. C. Whitehead; in the San Antonio were Capt. A. B. McDaniel and First Lieut. Charles McK. Robinson; in the San Francisco were Capt. Ira C. Eaker and First Lieut. M. S. Fairchild; in the Detroit, Capt. C. F. Woolsey and First Lieut. John W. Benton; in the St. Louis, First Lieut. B. S. Thompson and First Lieut. L. D. Weddington. Two of these were never to return (see text, page 485) At the Mexican border, we well knew, our great adventure began in earnest. If we were to succeed and fly our gas-burning doves of peace over the often empty, waterless hills and along the strange, uninhabited shores of twenty foreign nations, only eternal vigilance and infinite caution must be ours. We faced a grim, rigid, and relentless routine. With our Titan task before us, we took the air from Point Isabel on the afternoon of December 22, flew the Rio Grande, and straightened out down the Mexican east coast. For miles along the flat, sandy beach we saw no signs of human life, THE MAP OF MEXICO UNROLLS In four hours Tampico's twinkling beaing on our own red and green starboard cons broke through the hazy dusk. Turnand port lights, we landed easily. But a Mexican Air Service pilot, who had flown from his capital city to Tampico to meet us, was not so fortunate. He had ascended with two passengers to entertain the large crowd waiting on the field for our arrival. After flying around a few minutes, he came down, guided by flares from two lighted buckets of gasoline. Failing to level his plane at the right moment, because of the insufficient illumination, he struck at a sharp angle, turned over, and was wrecked. In this bustling, opulent oil town of Tampico we enjoyed the first of many welcome banquets hospitably given us by friendly cities along our path. Here hundreds of Americans make their homes. Fast trains tie Tampico to Texas cities, AMAPALA, THE ONLY PORT OF HONDURAS ON THE PACIFIC When the American aviators arrived, a native brass band was waiting on the beach to serenade them. Here is a perfectly sheltered roadstead, through which passes much of the seaborne trade of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador. SINCE CORTEZ CAME, VERA CRUZ HAS BEEN A GATE TO MEXICO Through this east coast port, for centuries, have passed the friends and enemies of the Republic, as well as many of southern and central Mexico's imports and exports. Its customhouse handles much of the nation's foreign trade. IZALCO, "THE LIGHTHOUSE OF SALVADOR," IN ERUPTION To west coast sailors this active volcano is a useful landmark. On a clear day its giant puff of smoke is seen far out at sea and by night it lights the sky above it. There are more volcanoes in this part of Central America than in any other area of similar size, EARTHQUAKES HAVE STREWN GUATEMALA WITH RUINS Amid its mysterious temples and stone gods of a lost civilization, and its alligator pears and marimba music, Guatemala lives happily, despite its frequent earth tremblings. In the foreground are the ruins of the Convent of Mercy, destroyed in an earthquake. |