Bogota Bound

Late in November Lieut. Benjamin ("Benny the Gas Boy") Mendez, U. S.-trained chief pilot of Colombia's air service, rose from the field at Rockaway Naval Air Station, L. I., to fly 4,600 miles to Bogota, capital of Colombia (TIME, Dec. 24). He expected to take four days. Last week he arrived, in another plane. He had been to Jacksonville. Havana. Puerto Barrios, Colon, Cartagena. Barranquilla, Girardot. He had torpedoed into the water at Colon, blasted into a tree at Girardot. After the first eight days he was 2.350 miles from his starting point. After the next 33 days he was only 400 miles further. Patriotic Colombians, whose subscriptions had bought his plane, had long since ceased scanning the skies.