ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 25, 31 January 1927, Page 7

ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

THREE ASPIRANTS PREPARE. WASHINGTON", January 2S. Preparations for a further attempt to cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane from New York to Paris are now being made by three aviators.

Lieutenant-Commander Noel Davis, United States naval reservist, is the furthest advanced. He expects to make his flight i'l July or August. and hope-s to obtain an army bomber.

Another entrant is 31. l'anl Tarascou, a Frenchman, who is considering utilising a speci-

ally designed aeroplane. able to stand the strain of a

heavv load, nartioularly upon the takeoff.

Captain Rene Fonck. whose first, attempt in September. l'J-'j. ended in disaster. is also to try again. He will probably employ a machine built by the same designer as tlie one in which he crashed. The successful airman will secure Mr. Raymond Ortegas prize of £5000.

Captain Rene Fonck's disastrous start on an Atlantic flight was made in a Sikorsky biplane, which crashed three minutes after rising from the ground, killing Clavier rnd Islamoff, two of the living party. Captain Fonck and Lieut. Cm tin escaped l>y jumping cleai. The aeroplane in which Lieut Taraseou was to attempt the flight a year ago, was also wrecked on a trial trip. His new machine is a l'otez biplane, carrying sufficient oil and fuel for a flight of 4500 miles at a speed of 1.30 miles an hour. Its fuel tanks are fitted to serve as floats in cas" of a forced descent in mid-Atlantic-.