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Wilkins spent the entire year 1926 in failure. In January one of his planes, just completed at the Ford Airport in Michigan, was destroyed by fire. In March another of his planes was damaged landing on the Yukon. The very next day his third and last plane damaged its landing gear on its test flight. Palmer Hutchinson, a Detroit newspaperman accompanying the expedition, was then killed by a whirling propeller.
Meanwhile Wilkins was repairing one of his planes, the Alaskan. On April 7, he set out from Fairbanks, penetrated far into the north, came back. Lieut. Eielson was with him on this first aerial thrust into the Arctic; he has been with him ever since.
On April 15, Wilkins set out again; this time he was "lost" 13 days, but came back with the announcement that he was set for the big flight. And then, on May 6 he wrecked his plane while attempting to take off at Fairbanks. He returned to the U. S., discouraged, but more determined on success than ever.
Early in 1927, Capt. Wilkins and Lieut. Eielson sailed for Alaska with two Stinson planes and a Fokker. Their first important flight brought them down in the Arctic, and they saved their lives only by breaking up a plane and building sledges out of the wooden parts. Again Capt. Wilkins returned to the U. S. and again he returned to Alaska. He announced once more that he would make the flight to Spitzbergen, starting early in April. Finally, he set out. . . .
During these dreary preparations and despite the set of the Wilkins jaw, skepticism grew that he would ever make his flight. Still, the newspapers had plenty of time to prepare "obits," or explanatory biographical stories, on every phase of his adventure, so that when he finally did succeed the New York Times was able to devote to aviation 23 of its first 25 columns of news, spreading over six pages.