Aeronautics: Northern Passage

• Share

Coincidence brushed remote points in the North Atlantic one day last week. 1) The crew of a Dutch trawler fished from the water near the Orkney Islands a package containing the papers of an American, turned it over to the U. S. Consul at Amsterdam. The papers proved to be the pilot's license, passport and permit of Parker ("Shorty") Cramer who was lost with Radioman Louis Oliver Pacquette last fall while flying a transatlantic survey from Detroit to Europe, via Greenland and Iceland, for Transamerican Airlines Corp. (TIME, Aug. 17). 2) While the consul was scanning the papers, the Icelandic Althing (Parliament) passed a bill giving Transamerican Airlines the right to build a seaplane base and radio station at Reykjavik, and a concession to operate oceanic mail & passenger services for 75 years, exclusive of any U. S. competitor for the first 15 years.