Viewing page 113 of 162

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

               [[ Article ]]
              the journey to Marselle was made 
              via the Bay of Biscay and Southern
              France
         
          Coming home was a somewhat less smooth sailing.
          East -blowing winds held back the ship. But Mr. Eck insisted
          that he enjoyed the trip equally well. "I was away from America less than 
          six days." he declared. "and spent four nights in Europe. My next oceanic 
          experience I hope will be a flight from the United States to New Zealand 
          over the Pacific

    Following Mr. Eck's address Phillip Simms Warren, Alexander Halper-son and Dr. 
    Emil Ferdinand exhibited and discussed portions of of their collections of the 
    stamps of Austria.


  Those attending  the meeting included: Mr. and Mrs. Harry F Dunkhorst, Mr. and Mrs Edward B. Martin. Miss Irene M. Pistorio. Miss Dor othy Fisk. Mrs Ethyl Thomposon, Miss Elizabeth Tewkesburry, Mrs Grace L. Mac Knight, Dr. Ellis Haworth. Dr M. G. Skinner, William A. Verhas, Theodroe E Forbes, Heman Bocorselski, Alvin R. Meissner, Col Charles S. Hamilton, Dr. T. S. Palmer, J. Michael Brown, John R. Ewell. David D. Caldwell, John K. Helder and others


            {{ Article]]

   Monday, July 31, 1939 COURIER OTTUMWA, IOWA

              [[Image]]
     MRS. E.E. EDWARDS From the Washington Star.


              [[ Article]]
 NUMBER ONE - When the pan American Atlantic Clipper made its first regular passenger flight in late June, W. J. Eck, former iwn whose sister is post master at Cedar, was N. 1 passenger, having advanced to that position because of the untimely death of Will Rogers who had made reservations No. 1. Eck, who is vice president of the Southern railroad with home and head-quarters at Washington D.C.,

                 [[ Article]]

was born at Pleasant  Pleasant in Jefferson county. He attended the old Friends academy there and then was a student at Iowa State College from which institution he is a graduate in electrical engineering. His Sister, is Mrs. E. E. Edwards, wife of a Cedar storekeeper and herself postmaster in that town. Mr. Eck has an enviable reputation reputation as a traveler. On each of his various trips he has written a log in narrative form telling of his experience. copies of each of these are prized possessions of his sister, Mrs. Edwards.  The titles tel of his journeys:  "By Air to the Inca lands," "E'y Train, by Ship and By P"lane to Africa," " To the Acrtic and the Baltic," and " After you, Colonel Lindbergh,"  Which tells of the Atlantic Clipper trip.  Traveling in a hobby as well as a business with ECK and he enjoys it in either form. Mr. and Mrs. ECK will leave in January on a trip which will take them all the way around the world. ECK'S log on the Atlantic fight is a Vastly interesting thing. It's cover page carries this small verse which is so true in this day of modern aeronautical accomplishments: " Ah, wondrous age, Man can dare The bright-eyed eagle In the upper air!"

The narrative on the Clipper trip begins with ECK's first call from Pan American Airways system asking him if he still was interested  in keeping the reservation he made for the flight in 1931-eight years earlier! The 27 pages of the log are spread with a well-written and interesting account of the trip from Port Washington, near New York, to Horta Azores; Lisbon, Portugal;  Marseilles, France; Paris, and return over the same route. Sample descriptive passage reads, "Our plane circles to gain altitude and heads east along the north shore of Long island bound for the Azores-the 'Crossroads of the Atlantic'-which is our next stop, 2,490 miles distant." in the log a little later, ECK tells, "For the last three hours we have been flying over a solid bank of white clouds with no sight of the ocean below-very like a vast  snow field." At the point of arrival at Lisbon, ECK wrote, "At  7 P.M. the coast of Portugal was in sight directly ahead and at 7:10 P.M. we were down in the river Tagus in front of the capital. Lisbon-just two minutes less than a day since we left the united States. It took Columbus 70 days to make his trip across the Atlantic.

           [[ Telegram or cablegram ]]
                   WESTERN
                   UNION . (44) [[ Upper Right 1201 ]]
   R.B. WHITE President  NEWCOMB CARLTON CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD  J.C. WILLEVER VICE-PRESIDENT[[Part Stamped over by 1939]]
[[Upper Left side [[ Underlined/]]CLASS OF SERVICE This is a full rate Telegram or Cablegram unless its deferred character is indicated by suitable symbol above or preceding the address]] 

The fling time show in the date line on telegrams and day letters is STANDARD TIME at point of origin. Time of receipt is STANDAR
WE88 9 XC=REEDSBURG WIS 5 1 1055A 
W J ECK= 
53 ADAMS ST NORTHWEST=
AM HAPPY TO KNOW OF YOUR SAFE ARRIVAL
CONGRATULATIONS=
ELVA.

        [[ Article]]
 W.J. ECK, No. 1 Passenger on First Flight of Dixie Clipper, Visits Here
Visiting at the C.C.  Hummel home in this city this week are MR. and Mrs W.J. Eck of Washington, D.C. Mrs EC< was before her marriage Miss Emily Kleb of this city.

Mr. Eck is a world traveler, and is assistant vice president of the Southern Railway System.  He recently gained renown as the No. 1 passenger on the Dixie Clipper, the first passenger plane to the Atlantic ocean.

Mr. Eck booked passage on the Clipper eight years ago when he first heard of the possibility of a plane carrying passengers over the Atlantic

They have also made reservations on a Norwegian liner to take a trip around the world. The cruise was to have started on January 20, but because of the second world war, Mr. Eck believes this trip will not be possible. The trip was planned to include a stay of several weeks in England which, of  course, is not now possible.

Mr. Eck has traveled in practically every country in the world. He has flown over 49,000 miles in the air. One plane trip took him to southernmost point in Africa. On one journey he chartered a plane and pilot and for a week cruised over the jungles and veldts of Africa. "I covered as much ground on that trip in one week as I would have been able to cover in two years traveling as is customary in that country", said Mr. Eck.

They saw the wild animals in their natural habitat and when they came upon interesting herds, they would swoop down low for a better view and sometimes would land for brief surveys of the surroundings country.

A recent trip by boat took him within 475 miles of the North Pole and included an interesting return trip by way of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and also included a visit in Danzig.
Mr. Eck has hopes of making the New zealand hop this fall. The first survey flight  has been made and four more will be necessary before a ship may take passengers over the route, says Mr. Eck. he hopes the remaining survey flights will soon be made so that the and Mrs. Eck will be able to make the historic flight this fall.

No more will be said now about Mr. Eck's trip in the Dixie Clipper on June 28, for he has kindly consented to allow the Times-Press to print his diary written on the trip. This is to be printed soon in the Times-Press. It give an interesting, detailed account of a very unusual event.

Reedsburg. Wis. Times-Press Sept: 8,1939.