"ONE WOMAN" FLIGHT.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19332, 9 June 1928, Page 19

"ONE WOMAN" FLIGHT.

-—* ~ LONDON TO CAPE TOWN. LADY BAILEY'S FINE ACHIEVEMENT,, (TB.OU. OUB OWN CORBBSPONDEHT.) LONDON, May 2. Lady Bailey, wife of Sir, Abe Bailey, the South African millionaire, has com-, plefed her "one-woman" flight from jbondon' to Cape Town, She made a perfect landing at the Wynherg aerodrome, where oir Abe Bailey was the first to wekoine her. .Bailey said the last stage of the flight from Beaufort West had been very dimoult on account of low-lying clouds and a head wind, which caused her to take an hour and a half longer than she exepcted. Visibility was very bad but she finally picked up Table Mountain and headed for it. It is but bare truth to call Lady Bailey's flight one of the most remarkable flights in the annuals of aviation (writes an air correspondent). The route carried her over 200 miles of the Mediterranean, through the heart of Africa, and across the. equator—some of the most difficult country in the world from a flying point of view. Her aeroplane was a de Haviland Moth, with a Cirrus 30-80 h.p. engine manufactured by A.D.C. Aircraft, Ltd. She learned to fly in 1926 at the London Aeroplane Club, and the only flying she has done has been by herself in her own Moth. Many people had misgivings when they beard that, unheralded, she had set out from Croydon aerodrome on March 9th. She flew across France and down Italy to Malta, then across the Mediterranean to Hons, and thence a further 200. miles over the sea to Benghaji. She reached Cairo on March 19th, and was there informed that she would not be allowed to fly over the Sudan from Khartoum without escort. So Lieut. Bentley, who was flying from Cape Town to London, came to the rescue and offered his machine as escort over the forbidden country. On April Bth—after passing safely over very dangerous country—she smashed her machine in landing at Tabora, an aerodrome 8000 feet above sea level A notable feature of the flight is that she has acted as her own engineer throughout. In January this year the title of champion airwoman of the world was conferred on Lady Bailey by the International League of Aviators. Last year she achieved a world's altitude record for light 'planes and was the first wtman to fly across the Irish Sea alone.