Around the World in 175 Days by Carroll V. Glines

Author:Carroll V. Glines [Glines, Carroll V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-1-944466-02-2
Publisher: Smithsonian
Published: 2016-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

Ogden’s risky adventure was still not over. They reached a lagoon when they entered the next valley and had to be transported across it on a barge poled by fishermen. When halfway, the barge began to leak and the men panicked. They immediately poled back to the beach they had left and got there just in time to off-load the truck. The crew of the sinking barge hollered for friends on the other side of the lagoon who came over with their barge. Ogden, the sailors, and the truck with the engine finally made it to Hue as dawn was breaking.

With the help of Smith and Arnold, the old engine was lifted out of the plane and the new one was dropped into place. All the engine lifelines were connected and the plane was ready to go in less than four hours in what Ogden, an experienced hand at engine changes, said was record time. Smith started it up and taxi-tested the plane before taking off for Tourane, sixty miles away.

The episode had been an extraordinary example of cooperation between the U.S. Navy, the French agent, sailors, priests, boatmen, and the fliers themselves. The entire episode had taken only seventy-one hours from the time Smith and Arnold had landed on the remote lagoon until they flew the plane away with its new engine.

Nelson and the others returned to Tourane with the truck and arrived before nightfall on 15 June. Next morning the crews arose early and the three planes were airborne for Saigon shortly after 5 A.M. The weather was favorable but the Boston had its troubles during the flight when the generator stopped working. The cause could not be determined. When they found that no spare generator was available, Nelson, a master at innovation, later installed an extra storage battery with a switch so that one battery could be used for a short while, then the other.

After flying over more jungle, rice paddies, and quiet lagoons, the trio of planes arrived over the entrance to the Mekong River at 1:30 P.M. The three planes landed at the French Army Hydroplane Station on the Saigon River north of the city. They had arrived at what was then called the “Paris of the Orient,” the most southern point they would reach nearest the equator.

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