THE ARCTIC AS AN AIR ROUTE OF THE FUTURE 



209 



factor in the polar re- 

 gions, whether in mid- 

 winter, when it is al- 

 ways dark, or in mid- 

 summer, when it is al- 

 ways light. We shall, 

 for the present, con- 

 s i d e r only summer 

 journeys. 



The speed of the 

 dirigible that has al- 

 ready crossed the At- 

 1 a n t i c was great 

 enough so that, had it 

 started north from 

 Scotland with a full 

 supply of hydrogen 

 just after a spring 

 sunrise, it could have 

 reached the area of 

 perpetual daylight, 

 near Iceland, in fif- 

 teen or twenty hours. 



This means that 

 such a dirigible would 

 not be overtaken by 

 darkness at all in the 

 beginning of its trip 

 and would meet its 

 first night only after 

 crossing the polar area 

 and penetrating well 

 into Asia. On the 

 major portion of the 

 voyage from England 

 to Japan, there would, 

 accordingly, be no 

 great expansion or 

 contraction of the hy- 

 drogen, no consider- 

 able loss of buoyancy 

 or necessity for 

 throwing out ballast, 

 giving not only an in- 

 creased cruising ra- 

 dius to the dirigible, 

 but also an increased 

 freight - carrying ca- 

 pacity. 



In air voyages no 

 less than sea voyages, 

 things will doubtless 

 occasionally go wrong. 

 This brings us to the 

 third great advantage 

 of the northern route. 



Photograph by Captain C. T. Pedersen 

 FORCING A WAY THROUGH THE SMALL FLAT ICE IX THE 

 BERING SLA IN EARLY SPRING 



The presence of relatively stable ice-floes in the polar ocean 

 would be an advantage to aircraft in case of forced landing. Cakes 

 of ice would serve as life-rafts (see text, page 211). 



