DARK AND DAINTY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 194, 30 May 1934, Page 3

DARK AND DAINTY

MISS JEAN BATTEN.

EARLY FLIGHTS DESCRIBED.

(Special to the “ Guardian.”)

AUCKLAND, May 29.

Petite, dark,, dainty and as self-pos-sessed as’ though she had just risen •from a Bridge table, Miss Jean Batten, the 24-year-old Auckland air pilot, whose record flight of 14 days 22-J hours for the London-Australia route has won the praise of the civilised world, captivated all at Darwin Aero drome last Wednesday at the conclusion of her hazardous flight oyer seas and jungles where the slightest miscalculation might have meant instant death. Darwin correspondents predict that her smile will “subjugate Australia.”

“It is tremendously thrilling to succeed at last after two failures,”' she confided, a little breathlessly. “I am more pleased than I can say to have broken the women’s solo record.” ■ Describing her first two attempts to make the. flight, Miss Batten said that engine failure had ended her first On her second she had run out of petrol within two miles of Rome, and landed in a field, damaged the propeller,- under-carriage and lower wing. An Italian lent her a wing; so she flew back to England, fitted a new wing and started off again' next day. Terrifio Sandstorms. The flight was one long adventure in the course of which Miss Batten flew through terrifio sandstorms in Syria, twice pulled her engine down and repaired it herself, flew across India m one hop in spite of a scorching Sim temperature of 140 degrees, which blistered her face and her machine, flew “blind” over Burma in a monsoon so murky that she could not seo her instruments, and tackled the final 480-mile hop across the treacherous Timor Sea in an oblique wind which could easily have blown her small Gipsy Moth off its course. The weather throughout she described as “frightful.” Although four years old, her Moth engine had performed perfectly and she was most grateful to all who had helped her, especially to Imperial Airways and members of the Air I'orce. She was also very thankful for Lord Wakefield’s generosity which had made the trip possible this year. Took' a New Route. “I took a new route to Australia, flying via Athens and Cyprus,” said the airwoman, in further describing her experienced of the flight. “I learned, 'to my surprise, at Cyprus that I had put up the fastest time from England to Cyprus that has ever- been flown. The first little trouble I had with the ’plane was at Basra, where the Royal Air Force mechanics helped me out and saved time. Then came the dreadful flight across India and a monsoon storm in Burma, which looked like a huge, black mountain as I flew toward it. I could not find mountains on the map. Then I ran into rain so dark that I could not see my instrument hoard. The storm seemed to swallow me up in pitch, darkness. 1 was not at all nervous, however, as J had faith in my ’plane. I gave three rousing cheers as I crossed the Equator and then made my way down -toward Darwin.”

Sources of Inspiration? It is a coincidence that Miss Batten was born six weeks after M. Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel and her mother, in the excitement of the occasion, mounted the pictures from \ the newspapers and, placed theni on the mantlepieces of her home m Rotorua. Referring to these pictures m a recent interview in London, Mrs Batte said, “Almost the first thing Jeans babp eyes must have seen was a picture of Bleriot’s ramshackle machine. 1 often wondered whether that inspired her desire to fly, but I believe Kmgsford Smith’s magnificent flights filed her imagination. “After the Auckland reception Kmgsford Smith was given in connection ■with his Pacifio flight, Jean sudden y announced, ‘I am going to earn to fly.’ Smithy, amused, looked at the child and said jestingly, ‘That s fine Let’s give her a toast. V e filled oui glasses and proposed, ‘to the day when Jean gets her license.’ We laughed, but Jean had tears in her eyes. “She said to me afterwards, no one took me seriously, but I am going to fly. They’ll see!’”