Whilst Schulte-Frohlinde, Feucht and Zinsmayer completed the mounting, Green and Omdal continued their work with the motor and completed it by putting on the propellers.
After everything had been tried and tested and proved to be in splendid order, there arose the burning question, which had been in my mind for the last half year, namely, how would the machines run on the snow? Exactly in front of the mounting place were any number of suitable spots where we could make a trial on level snow, so I made the first test on May 9th. The boat, as was only natural, stuck fast at first, but got free quite easily with a strong pull. It was a delightful sensation to realize how easily it glided along. Had it sunk heavily down into the snow and stuck there, matters would have looked less bright for us.
Flying boats of this size had never been tried on snow before, but we built on our own belief in its being possible; had it not been so we should have been in an unpleasant position.
From the day we gathered all our material together, our program went according to date, and in the beginning of May we were all in readiness to set off in the second half of the month if conditions permitted.
That day was for me, therefore, a great day in the expedition’s course, and every one will understand my feeling of joy when after testing the machine I was able to announce to Amundsen, “We are clear to start the moment our leader says the word!”
Part IV
REPORT ABOUT N 24 FROM THE START
UNTIL WE JOINED N 25 AND ITS
CREW ON THE 26TH MAY By L. Dietrichson
REPORT ABOUT N 24 FROM THE START
UNTIL WE JOINED N 25 AND ITS
CREW ON THE 26TH MAY
I am sitting in the South in real, tropical, summer heat. Outside my windows roses of all colors are blooming, and the air is positively saturated with the perfume of flowers. Beyond the harbor, as far as the eye can see, the water is like a mirror, clear and inviting.
I have to write a few words regarding our experience on the polar flight. The events seem so far, so far away, that it appears almost as a dream. The present is a reality. It reminds me of the days when, up in the ice desert, we had a similar if not quite so strong a feeling that the glorious days which we had spent with Director Knutsen in King’s Bay were mere fantasies.
Meantime my diary with its few daily notes lies before me, and with the help of these I hope I can manage to give a correct description of the events which I am trying to depict. I may add that I am principally concerned in giving a correct narration of the actual happenings, and nothing is further from my thoughts than literary ambition.