THE LAST STAGE.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19332, 9 June 1928, Page 15

THE LAST STAGE.

I £ FLIGHT COMMENCES.

flight of Southern Cross. V : FIJI TO BRISBANE HOP. ijtough Riding in Mixed Weather. I r Captain C. Kingsford-Smith and his companions commenced :'-vthe stage of their flight across the Pacific yesterday, when ' Southern Cross left Naselai Sands, Fiji Island, at 2.52 p.m. Although early in the evening bad conditions were experienced, --these were successfully weathered, but messages received after ''midnight indicated that the aeroplane was again passing through Stormy weather, and in the own phrase, they were f? having "rough riding." The, final hop appears to be the most ''." eventful of the first trans-Pacific crossing by air.

I are not through yet, but as soon as the moon comes up and flying is set for the night we will eat and have a spot of our. emergency ration of whisky. I am too cold .to write more, and have no gloves. : Will send more later. Quite O.K.' Cheerio everyone. —Vim."

I , , ; ,jpLANE TAKES OFF EASILY. =*} ——- tf krmXß PBZBS ASSOCIATION—BS ELECTRIC tea,!"* 4 "" TEWGBAPH—COPTBIOHT.) y 4 , - June Bth, 7.30 p.m.) ;Hj SUVA, June 8. M& Southern Cross hopped off from -jgdai Sands at 2.52 p.m. aviators have taken aboard 7GU "pna'of petrol.' There are about 800 'ijjlons m the tanks. i 'Sfie 'plane passed over. Suva at If Suva time, flying west ;sle Government yacht Pioneer.reI mi. that the Southern Cross took, off L Noselai Sands without difficulty, „ J&with plenty of roam to spare. 1 'ma Yangona ceremony was pertorm- . tt±w a large gatherings of- Fijians . Sif to departure, Captain Kingsford- , fifth thanked the natives, the \Ma cheered. The Southern Cross " ufors vere warmed up, and for ten r, jfflßtes the machine circled, then dis•jfiired In the direction of Suva. were cheered on entering ln&» ne - ■ , j - + ?$» Southern Cross wirelessed at s film.: ''Governor of Suva: Please sfffl to the Mayor, Mr Marks, and; it m residents our truly sincere and ''nleful appreciation of all ! that has [. B done for us. Long will yre reSber jour wonderful hospitality. 'Mrything has been done for us, and "Mont Suva's swonderful co-operation 'S&flieht could not have been a suc- , $! We feel sure it now will be. . also personally -thank; the it&H for their great help.—Kings-rid-Smith."—Australian Press Assofdation. f,[on its Honolulu to Suva hop the JMothern Cross covered the 2735 nauafical miles in 34i hours. Calculated im this basis, the flight from Fiji to fßrisbane, of 1500 miles, should take appximatcly ISf hours, although the jflano will probably .make faster time, fft it carries loss weight in petrol. -It gtould thus reach «its'.';destination; at : l&oximately 9 40 "a.m., New Zealand f'faor 8 a.m. Sydney" time, provided sf\||nus no deviation from the course vUTmfffl interfering factor. Late adindicato- that the- 'plane .Miwiater than this in reaching Aus-;>PHEAVY-.STQBM.; __! ■ iSwORST WEATHER OF JBf, FLIGHT. Sk ■■■/''■' J|fELY THROUGH: ALL WELL M$h V AND CHEERFUL. :■■■ jgp-,, ;'; : 'v ..''.' IfMessages from the Southern Cross sHjl from shore stations in Australia to Sjho'/plane wero picked up by-Mr F. lilemloV. a Christchurcb amateur. |§F&Wsydney and-Melbourne were: reports' to the • effect,. in ffief, that the 'plane might expect weather in parts of the Tasman that on the Australian coast SMilwther would be fine rind visibility 111? > Actually the 'plane met the Iferatiand evidently, was severely bufIJMjor two worst weaggrjof the whole flight,", as the wire|«f4perator, Mr Ulm, described it. iliMong rhe messages.was a request iffiffie* Government of New Caledonia rays of : a'searchlight verabout 10 o'clock and' to have l|fcrtni of Noumea as brightly lighted possible. As New Caledonia is m the ?|S§t line between Suva and Brisbane, l&Blyers doubtless wished to have the J|P>Miglit and the town lights as a from ; the Southern f«N were as on the Honolulu-Suva SW cheerful and racy. He»e are affge of tlie more interesting sections: ■ Wpm the Southern Cross at 5.20 won't be long now, cheerio «erjbody. There <is a possibility of '{TOweather to-night, hence I will reSWeSmithv at the controls now, that; >?>& be 'better rested for to-night's as happv as Larry up here. j#f*e!? Coo-eel Coo-ee! Cheerio and Jflwlovrs a bnof account of the deWftfi took off from Naselai beach gallons of fuel, so we. will fffiw-enough for oyer 25 hours, but only be in the air 18 or 2Q Sorry we could not take off |}|Srttay, but we felt, we were not igjpriiln commencing to. take risks. f§p I K> near our goal. It will be good |gt|*» old Brisbano again in the morncarrying letters to tbe firttnoE-General and Garney Malley ||«uva.''-(Signed) C. T. P. Ulm. ißem Cross. ... m - BShn* 18 th ° hf6, cheerio -"~ ' Longitude 20;03 south, M»\ F ,gnt easterly breeze. s 4»;Bmithy ]ust remarked, how agja, air-mind expands. A few years |g>lo47oo mile flight was enormous; v is the shortest of, our three big Please thank all who sent |QF> >M .congratulations to Honolulu IgSfuva. We have been unable to |f yet. Cheerio.—Cv, T. ;k -- Anxious Hours. ¥&££***?&* received at 0-5 p.m. &■ did not want to worry in it, but now we are 4 we.will tell you that for KSr o hours we have been batworst weather of the ll&TZ, ?>*& weather, with heavy - . 80 humps, giving us sev-mm-filri™? > experienced a series of |lffiyS> la yed on us by the eleBUge. ■ Bmithr and

NEARING HALF-WAY.

(PSMB ASSOCIATIOK TELEOBAM.)

WELLINGTON, June 8.

About. 9.35 o'clock to-night, New Zealand time, station 2BL Sydney ahr nounced that prior to the aeroplane encountering the. storm area she was making 96 miles an hour. When she hit the storm her speed was. reduced to 73 miles. .

At 9.10 p.m.j New Zealand time, the aeroplane was 180 miles south of: New Caledonia and. 90 miles N.E. of Walpole Island.. These positions seem to be wrong, as Walpole Island is east of the southern extremity of New Caledonia. • At 10.13 p.m. came the message about being through the storm. This message ended "We , will get there OK.!"

HALF-WAY AT 11 P.M.

(PBBSS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

WELLINGTON, June 8.

At 11.10 .p.m.,' New .Zealand time,; station 2BL..Sydney announced that they had received the following message from ,the Southern Cross (IT p.m. Suva time):' "Latitude 22.45 south, longitude 167:25 east ; 838 miles to Brisbane."

: 2BL commented that the aeroplane was now half way over' and would evi-. dently arrive at Brisbane' at 8 o'clock to-morrow morning as anticipated by the airmen. ..

600 MILE& TO (GO.

POSITION A*T MIDNIGHT. y . - •■ .- .■ ■•■■ " : '

• At 12;20 a.m. the Southern Cross gave the 'plane's position at midnight as follows: Latitude 23.12 south,' longitude 166.21 eaßt. (About 100 miles due south of Noumea, and exactly on the course set "from Suva to Brisbane.) Nothing was wirelessed : ; about the weather between 11 o'clock -and midnight, biit 'the note' of the 'plane's generator changed violently-very, often over this period, and,, as. the generator would show, such . variations: with; increased or decreased revolutions of the engines, it is - possible that the 'plane was again, in,, very bad weather, alternately climbing and racing. This surmise was confirmed by a message received through' Brisbane at 12.35 p.m., giving practically the same latitude and longitude, .which. said that thev were having "rough riding." '■'■ At 12.45 the 'plane .sent, a message to the "Examiner," San Francisco: "About 600 miles .to'go. ■-'Give my best wishes to Lee. Air going well. Cheerio!—Warner." The position of the Southern Cross at 1.20 a.m. was: Latitude 23.35 degrees south, longitude 165.22 east. A message, wa's wirelessed to . the effect that heavy head winds had been encountered, but - the aeroplane was making good progress. A GENEROUS BACKER. FLYERS RETAIN ALL PROFITS. NEW YORK, June. 7. A message from Los Angeles states that only: the four members of the crew of the Southern Cross will share in the profits resulting from the Pacific flight, it was said on behalf of Mr Allan Hancock, their today. ...Mr Raymond Stephens, Mr Hancock's attorney, explained that his client desires no personal gain from the flight. .He said that the Los Angeles capitalist gave assistance only to iurther the development of aerial navigation and in admiration of the perseverance of Captain Kingsford-Smith and Mr Dim. Mr Hancock sailed for Mexico the day the" Southern Cross took off from Oakland. He was not aware then that his connexion with the flight was + to become public, but gave permission today that his association be^explained. The statement by Mr Stephens revealed that, deprived of the.-Nckng which they expected when tte.W Australia, Captain . . Kingsforj-Smith and Mr Ulm found themselves stranded with their.'plane mortgaged to stay within the boundaries of California. They also had insufficient equipment and numerous debts. . ■ , They met Mr Hancock through Air Andrew Chaffey, a Los ■ Angeles bank pSent: Mr became' interested in-the .flyers. -He ?00k a short flight,with them.and then advanced • the necessary funds for the Reject -Australian Press Association. AMBITION TO SPAN THE WORLD. SAN FItANCISOO, June 7. Girard McGraven, chief mechanician for the Southern Cross, .while the machine was at Oakland Airport, said that Captain Kmgsford-Smith had discussed with hinVhis ambition to fly around the world, provided th* Australian venture proved successful, 5 continuing his flight from Brisbanev—Austadian Preas A**ociatM«i.

BEFORE THE START.

AIRMEN WELCOMED A REST.

SUVA, June 8.

The flyers are in the best of spirits after a .good night's rest on the Pioneer. The conditions here are very favourable. . All are going ashore about noon to get the 'plane in position to start. The Southern Cross made an excellent landing at Naselai yesterday on hard, Sey sVnd, half a mile, from the petrol depot, and taxied along the beach without trouble. The delay was caused chiefly insufficient time bemg allowed to filter all the petrol through the iiew chamois, and alsTthe great in>nding the-, petrol from the G.S. Pioneer, which was compelled to stand off in choppy water. ~■■.,■, ■x. -n The airmen finally decided at five o'clock that it was impossible;to take off; and fixed'two o'clock this afternoon for the departure. ■ the 'plane was then mrnhandled up the beach bv the crews of the Pioneer and the Adi Beti, and the native police who were sent over from Suva to guard the machine, which was taken above high-water mark. It was a glorious night, and there was no need even to tie • the'plane down. # Captain. Lyons and Mr Warner arrived outside the reef, at Naselai at 3.15 p.m., after a very rough passage in the Adi Beti.

... The- story,is confirmed that .Captain; Lyons-lost ,his spectacles when hoard-; irig the Pioneer, and it was deemed impossible to find them by divers. He' is handicapped, but not.incapacitated. •"■ At six o'clock Captain KingsfordSmith, Mr Ulm, and Captain Lyon boarded the Pioneer to return to Suva, leaving Mr Warner and Inspector Tucker, the European police officer, in, charge of machine. They slept in Naselai Village. Evidently the captain of the Pioneer considered that it was impossible to leave the anchorage ■ safely, and remained all night. The delay was considered a good thing by the flyers, as they were wornout by the festivities, which might have been renewed had they returned to Suva.—Australian Press Association. RE-BROADCAST,OF ARRIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT BY 2YA. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEOBIH.) WELLINGTON, Juno 8. The Eadio Broadcasting-Co. of New Zealand has arranged to endeavour to re-broadcast from" 2YA Wellington, a rnnning description of the arrival of the Southern Cross at Brisbane to-mor-row. The description will be given by broadcast Station 4QG Brisbane, and a land line will connect QG with Station 2FC Sydney, which will relay the description per medium' of their powerful short wave station 2ME on 28.5 metres. As short waves travel well, in daylight it is'anticipated that reception in Wellington will.be satisfactory enough to re-broadcast- it by the Wellington Station, which will.be. on the air from 9.a.m. to 2 p.m. specially for the occation. , „__ After 8 o'clock this evening 2BL Sydney switched over to> its short wave receiving station, which was then receiving Morse broadcast signals from the Southern Cross. The clicking of the aeroplane operator's key was heard with considerable volume in Wellington on loud speakers. THE WEIGHT CARRIED. EQUALS HALF TRAINLOAD OP MEN. • "It is hard to realise the strides made in aeronautics ■ by the heavier than air craft during the last few years," writes E.H. "The details and weight-lifting power of the Southern Cross, which is not the biggest machine made oy any. means, are of interest:—The wing-spread of the Southern Cross is 72 feet. Its motors, of which there are three, develop over 600 h.p. They are of the Wright whirl-wind, air-cooled variety, which Colonel Lindbergh used on .his flight to Paris. The Fokker machine has so far the world's record for composite loading, equal to 471b per square foot of lifting surface. • "The probable load on the Southern Cross for the journey from Honolulu to Sura -was over 15,0001b—or equal to' 99 men of 11 stone each—half a trainload."