PILOT JUBILANT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 277, 23 November 1927, Page 7

PILOT JUBILANT.

Intention To Fly Low At

About 100 M.P.H.

WHISPER OF ROMANCE.

(Received 10 a.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, November 22. Giles expected to fly at a speed of from 95 to 100 miles per hour and he appeared jubilant before the take-off. He showed no nervousness as he climbed into the cockpit and waved farewell to the friends gathered at the side of the runway.

He flew without a helmet or goggles and threw the helmet that had been brought for him out of the 'plane. Just before he started to move he said he would fly at a moderately low altitude unless he encountered bad weather, in which event he would try to climb above the storm.

The pilot carried with him a picture of Wanda Hess, a sister of the 'plane designer. There are reports that Giles has become engaged to Miss Hess, but he refused to comment on the matter.

Half-a-dozen bulbs on the instrument boards will furnish lights during the night. He planned to fly low if he sighted any vessel on the trip and to drop a message on the deck.

The Wanda made a splendid take-off, rising into the air after going down a runway of about 1500 feet, which is a much shorter distance than the previous attempt, despite the muddy state of the runway."

The details of the flight were announced by Captain Giles in July last, when it was stated that he would be accompanied by three companions. The machine being used is a Hess Bluebird, named, the Wanda after Miss Wanda Hess, the sister of the designer, and is equipped with Wright motors, with storage tanks for nearly COO gallons of gasoline. In an interview Captain Giles said: "The first hop from Detroit to San Francisco should require 21 hours. In Honolulu I shall probably rest for a day or] two, then hop off for Brisbane, 4709 miles away. This will be the longest non-stop.flight yet attempted, and I hope to finish this lap in 48 hours, flying two days and nights without sleep. I should sight Hurd Island, in the Gilbert Group, 2400 miles out from Honolulu. From there my course takes me 170 miles further to St. Augustine Island, a small uninhabited speck of land, but a valuable guide-post nevertheless. Another 480 miles and I should sight Fataka Island, and from there it is 300 miles to the next landmark, the. New Hebrides. It is 400 miles from the New Hebrides to French Reef,, which lies along the north-western end of New Caledonia. If I strike bad weather here I may land at Noumea, in New Caledonia, but only if my petrol supply should run short. From Brisbane to Sydney my course lies along the Australian coast, but from Sydney to Wellington the course is] again over water. The distance to be covered in the fourth lap is 550 miles, and in the fifth 1369 miles. All but 140 i miles of the last hop is over the Tasman Sea." '• The venture is being financed by Mr. s W. Rosewarne, a contractor of Detroit,

who, in an interview, stated that the flight would be more than a sporting proposition. Mr. Bosewarne was born in Australia, and lived there for 22 years. He hoped the venture would stimulate flying in his home country, where railroads for inland travel were lacking, and also to see the day when he could go home to -Australia in three or four days by air.