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POST CONFIDENT OF AIR RECORD (Continued from First Page) flight. The paper declared during part of the flight, perhaps half an hour, Post was semiconscious and during all this period was climbing. The Examiner also will quote Billie Parker, Phillips Petroleum pilot, stating his belief Post exceeded 50,000 feet. The record of 47,353.2 feet is held by Lieut. Renato Donati of Italy. Post said he would not wait upon an official check of his barograph before making another attempt in a few days if the weather is favorable. The flyer told of his battle alone above the clouds to adjust a faulty valve which he feared would release too much oxygen and cause his "stratosphere diving" suit to burst. POST CLAIMS HEIGHT MARK Flyer Confident He Reached 48,000 Feet Altitude Over Oklahoma BARTLESVILLE (Okla.) Dec. [[??]] (AP)---Confident he set a new airplane altitude record of some 48,000 feet today, Wiley Post announced tonight he will defy the stratosphere's howling gales and 70 degrees below zero cold again within "two or three days" in an attempt to fly 10,000 feet higher still. Whipped about by terrific winds, Post landed at Muskogee's "Hatbox Field" at 10:21 a.m., unwilling at first to estimate how high he had gone in his two hours' and eleven minutes' struggle. CALCULATES TIME He flew back to Bartlesville, some ninety miles northwest of Muskogee and later looking over his instruments and calculating the time he was aloft and climbing approximately 1000 feet a minute, and he believed he had reached about 48,000 feet. The Bartlesville Examiner will say tomorrow that its unofficial check leads to the strong relief that Post exceeded 50,000 feet in his (Continued on Page 2, Column 2) Pangborn Plans Globe Girdling in 104 Hours SYDNEY (Australia) Nov. 12 (AP) Clyde Pangborn, American aviator, said today he is planning to fly around the world in 104 hours. The present record is held by Wiley Post who flew it alone in a little more than 186 hours. Pangborn said he plans only two stops---Moscow and Chita, Siberia. Col. Roscoe Turner who, with Pangborn finished third in the London-Melbourne race, said an aviation expert named Barlow of the University of Minnesota is building a plane capable of 400 miles an hour with which he plans to attack all existing speed records. POST PLANNING NEW YORK DASH (Continued from First Page) openings such as rivet holes. In a metal airplane such as the major air lines use today, this freezing of moisture will result in expansion of the ice and the loosening of rivets. An airplane of this kind would virtually fall apart. "Instruments also must be perfected. My instruments did not function when I reached stratosphere, but this might have been due to the oil in them being too heavy and congealing in the extreme cold, stratosphere temperature being 60 deg. below zero." FLYERS SET THREE GOALS Turner to Girdle Equator Flight Past Both Poles Also Planned, and Post Weighs Dash in Stratosphere Tentative plans for three major assaults on air speed and space records were revealed here yesterday. Roscoe Turner, Los Angeles speed pilot, announced he has plans under way for a scientific flight around the world, which will carry him the full 24,000 miles around the equatorial belt---first flight over this route. This completed, Turner said, he will attempt a round-the-world flight by way of the North and South poles. At the same time, Wiley Post, pilot who last week is believed to have ascended 55,000 feet into the stratosphere, indicated he soon will attempt a six-hour transcontinental stratosphere hop from Los Angeles to New York. TURNER EXPLAINS AIMS Turner said plans for his proposed globe-circling flights are only tentative, but if he is able to find a suitable ship for such undertakings, the experimental flights will be taken within the next year. "The flights will be solely of a scientific nature," he said, "and no effort will be made to establish any speed records. We plan to procure accurate and valuable data on weather, flying conditions, landing fields and general air information on both the projected equatorial and polar flights." POST AWAITS CHECK-UP Post, who flew here last week from Bartlesville, Okla., the day after his stratosphere flight, said he will await results of that flight before making plans for future experiments of speed flights at high altitudes. "As quickly as the results are announced, I am prepared to continue with my experiments," Post said. "While I have no definite plans for an immediate high-altitude flight from here to New York, I am confident that such a flight can be made in about six hours." BELIEVED ON TEST DASH Noted Aviator Sets Out in Flying Wing From Field and Fails to Return Zooming into the air from Union Air Terminal at 6:15 o'clock last night in what airport officials believed would be another test flight, Clyde Pangborn, 'round-the-world flyer, headed his freakish flying wing airplane into the east and had not been heard from at a late hour. Pangborn had announced his intention of flying to Dallas as soon as he felt that test hops in his unique ship were satisfactory. Before taking off last night he made no announcement that his flight would be more than another test. When, several hours later, he had not returned, apprehension was expressed at the airport concerning his safety. Others believed he was on his way to Dallas. [[blocked out ??]] DAY, DECEMBER 1, 1934 Melbourne Flyers Arrive Today Col. Roscoe Turner, who flew in the race from London to Melbourne, will arrive today at 11 a.m. at Los Angeles harbor. With him are Clyde Pangborn, co-pilot in the race, and Reeder Nichols, who was radio operator. On the same boat is Thea Rasche, foremost woman flyer in Germany. Turner and his companions will be welcomed by a committee of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. CRASH HURTS NAVY AIRMAN FRESNO, Dec. 8. (UP)---One navy man was injured, a second received a bad shaking up and their plane was damaged badly [[blocked out ??]] when, forced back from Northern California by fog, they [[blocked out ??]] at the airport here. SEVERELY BRUISED [[blocked out ??]] L. Smoot, radio operator in an airplane piloted by Lieut. Campbell Keene received severe cuts and bruises. Keene was shaken up, but otherwise uninjured. Their plane, one of forty attached to the U.S.S. Lexington, struck soft [[blocked out ??]] as they landed and nosed over, damaging its front assembly. SQUADRON TURNS BACK [[blocked out ??]] squadron of forty planes [[blocked out ??] here during the afternoon and, after a brief stop for refueling, took off again for San Diego. Encountering heavy fog over the ridge the squadron turned back. Eighteen planes stopped at Bakersfield and the remainder returned here. Keene's plane was the only one to suffer a mishap. Pangorn and Miss Rasche Add 'Wings' to Wall RIVERSIDE, Dec. 8.---Two more signatured "wings" in the collection now adorning the famous "Flyers Wall" of the Mission Inn were affixed last night in a brief ceremony, by Clyde Pangborn, one of America's most famous flyers, and Miss Thea Rasche, noted German aviatrix. Pangborn, who competed in England-to-Australia air derby with Col. Roscoe Turner, is said to be planning another flight around the world. He hopes to start next July, accompanied by Bennett Griffin. Sixteen "wings" are now in place on the famous flyers' wall. The dinner, attended by ten guests, preceded the ceremony. Nation's LEE MILES HEADS LIST Roscoe Turner Second Ray Minor Named to Third and Ralph Bushey Gets Fifth Honor The manner in which Los Angeles flyers completely dominate the world of air racing is demonstrated by the announcement just made of selections by the National Aeronautic Association of America's [[blocked out ??]] speed pilots for 1934. Three local birdmen are rated one-two-three, while a fourth Los Angeles pilot holds fifth place. The association's contest committee in its first annual ranking has named Lee Miles of Los Angeles America's No. 1 pilot in closed course air competition, Col. Roscoe Turner second and Roy Minor third. The other Angeleno named in the first five is Ralph Bushey. Miles first entered the national contest spotlight in the National Air Races of 1933 when he made an enviable mark for himself and began the racing record which in 1934 won him the honor of being placed as the premier pylon racing pilot in the United States [[Image]] Lee Miles [[\Image]] To win this high recognition, Miles, in a total of eleven closed course speed events, won seven first places, two seconds and two thirds, collecting a grand total of 970 points. Roscoe Turner, by winning the famous Thompson trophy race, recognized as the nation's outstanding air racing classic, was awarded second place in the national ranking of pilots racing in closed course competition. For his single win of the Thompson race he collected a total of 700 points, enough to place him second on the ranking list, although it was the only closed course race he entered during the year. [[Image]] Roscoe Turner [[\Image]] MINOR AT CLEVELAND Third place went to Roy Minor, who distinguished himself in the 1934 National Air Races at Cleveland. Minor had a total of 590 points. Harold Neumann of Illinois, who flew Ben Howard's white racer, Mike, in six races won two firsts and four third to win fourth place, while Ralph Bushey, another Californian, placed fifth with a score of 390 points won in six events. [[Image]] Roy Minor [[\Image]] Champions in the year's standing will be allowed to carry their place number on their racing planes until the next annual ranking is announced. BASIS OF AWARDS In making the national ranking announcement, the N.A.A. contest committee stressed the fact that the championship standing is in closed course racing activity within the confines of the United States and therefore did not include the famous MacRobertson contest. In international standing Roscoe Turner and Clyde Pangborn led all other American pilots through their success in the famous London-Australia contest. The point system on which the championship ranking is based awards points on a sliding scale for wins in the different displacement groups, taking into account the number of miles raced. Additional points are awerded for placing in the Thompson trophy race. It was this point bonus for victories in this famous contest which enabled Roscoe Turner to win second place ranking and helped Roy Minor to third position.
