BAALALUIE BERLE EER AAW ALE LATROBE O
JERSEY CITY, N. J., March 6

(Pj—Climbing through cold blue
skies more than five and one-
half miles over Jersey and Man-
hattan today, Miss Huth Nich-
ols, Rye, N. Y., flier, who holds
coast-to-coast speed marks, set
un unofficial altitude record for
women,

‘The altimeter on her speedy Lock-
heed-Veza monoplane showed near-
ly 30,054 feet. The sealed barograph
placed in the plane by the National
Acronautic Association, was imme-
diately shipped to Washington for
examination, If it shows 28,074 feet
or more, Miss Nichols will be award-
ed the record now held by Elinor
Smith, young Long Island filer.

Miss Nichols was informed that
to attain recognition as the record
holder, she must beat Miss Smith's
mark of 27,418 feet by more than
600 feet.

She took off frorn Jersey City air-
port at 12.33 p, m., and was uloft 90
minutes, . There-was.a 30 mile wind
blowing when she circled the city,
swung over Manhattan and started
the long climb.

“Everything went fine.” she sald,
“The engine worked perfectly. I
did not suffer any discomfort.”

She wore a flying suit lined witt
reindeer skin and the cockpit of her
plane was heated from the motor ex-
haust. She used oxygen apparatus
and had no difficulty In breathing
even in the thin, cold air at high at-
titudes, The temperature at the top
of her climb, was estimated at 50
degrees below zero by Clarence
Chamberlain, who coached Miss
Nichols for the attempt.

The plane was equipped with a
650-horsepower, super-charged nine-
eylinder air cooled motor, It is the
same ship in which she set cast-to-
west and west-to-cast transcontinen-
tal records,
 
WASHINGTON. UPI - The federal
~government—says—it—has~spent-nearly-
$2 million improving President Nixon's
homes in Florida and California, all of
it relating to «security.»

The White House also disclosed that
businessman Robert H. Abplanalp, who
helped the President buy his San Cle-
mente, Calif,, retreat, has been getting
Some money back in the form of rent
associated with Nixons Key Biscayne,
Fla,, place.

A moath ago the White House had
listed $39,000 in federal funds for
improving the.Western White House
at San Clemente since Nixon baught

aa See
 —Ht-in-1960,

Last week, after a. further search
of record, -it raised this figure to
$460,302,

On Thursday, General Services ad-
ministration GSA, the government's
housekeeping agency, said a still more
‘wextensive. audit put .the.totalfedaral
expenditure at San Clemente at $703,-
367 over four fiscal years beginning
July 1, 1969, ‘This included only the re-
Sidence there, not the White House
office space, °

GSA listed for the first time the
federal expenditure for improve-
ments, equipment, operation and main-
tenance at the White House complex
at Key: Biscayne, including both resi-

 

dence and offlcé space - $1,180,522,
spread over five fiscal years begin-
ning July 1, 1968,

Included” in the Key Biscayne figure
was $161,463 for renting two houses in
the complex for the Secret Service and
White House communications staff.

The White House sald one of these
houses is owned by Abplanalp and the
other is owned in the name of Edwin
H, Underwood, trustee for the Indiana
National Bank, Indianapolis,

The White House said all of the tax-
payers’ money spent in San Clemente
and Key Biscayne was for security re-
lated improvements and that all work
was done at the request of the Secret
Service, not the President,

. THE GSA data showed items such as
$53,644 in fiscal year 1970 for interior
security and communications at San
Clemente, It also included $3,303 in
fiscal 1970 for golf carts for the Se-
eret Service patrol at Key Biscayne,
- ‘Two years later there appears ano-
ther item of $5,230 for. three Secret
Service golf carts there.
 