Aeronautics: As Predicted

Heads were sagely wagged on both sides of the Pacific Ocean last week when it became evident that Pilots Don Moyle and Cecil A. Allen had failed in their attempt to fly from Samishiro Beach, Japan to Seattle. Many & many a prophet could say “I told you so.” The orange monoplane was sighted through the rain by a steamer no mi. from the starting point. It was not seen again. Following night the captain of another steamer off the coast of Alaska thought he heard a plane overhead, but there was no further clue. Weather was bad. Neither Moyle nor Allen was an experienced long distance flyer or navigator. Their plane, named the Clasina Madge for the daughter of Backer John Buffelin, Tacoma lumberman, had failed twice before: once (as the City of Tacoma) when Bromley & Gatty flew it 1,200 mi. from Tokyo and were forced back with a broken exhaust pipe; once when (as the Pacific) Thomas Ash Jr. was unable to take it off with the necessary fuel load. Japanese authorities took last week’s tragedy as further excuse for withholding a flight permit from Hugh Herndon Jr. and Clyde Pangborn (TIME, Aug. 17).