THEY'RE OFF.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 262, 5 November 1928, Page 7

THEY'RE OFF.

SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA.

Aviators Head Westward On

Long Flight.

TO LONDON AND BACK.

(Received 9.30 a.m.)

SYDNEY, this day,

A message from Wyndham, on the north of Western Australia, states that Captain Frank Hurley, who is about to attempt a recordbreaking flight to London and back, has inspected the engine of his monoplane, Spirit of Australia, and intended to begin his ocean hop to Andir, Java, at midnight on Sunday.

His departure, however, on the first stage to Andir was postponed owing to an unexpected storm.

The Spirit of Australia ultimately took off from Wyndham at 1.41 a.m., otherwise 3.41 a.m. Sydney time, and Loaded for Cape Londonderry on the extreme north-west coast of Australia at a speed of 90 miles an hour. He will set a course for Koepang, and, in the event of head winds, a landing will be effected at Sourabaya. Captain Hurley does not intend to risk a landing on an unknown, inland aerodrome surrounded by high mountains in the dark. His machine carries 380 gallons of petrol, which is sufficient for 24 hours. All i 3 well with Captain Hurley and his companions, Flying-Officers Moir and Owen. Captain Hurley's narrative of the flight across Central Australia includes the following passage: "It has ever been my ambition to see and to know something of the hidden heart of Australia. Now that I have seen a tract 80 miles wide on either side of our 2200 miles course I can honestly say I am bitterly disappointed. "The major portion of the country we saw is utterly desolate, arid and dead. It is such as ta fill one with sadness. Only once before have I seen more dreary plains. They were in the tormented landscapes of a hideous nightmarc." BIGGER STILL. New Airship For 168 Passengers And Do 100 M.P.H. TO MASTER ATLANTIC STORMS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, November 4. The Airship Guarantee Company is now preparing designs for a dirigible embodying the lessons taught by the flight of the Zeppelin LZI27. The designs are btfßed on the Burney Rolls-Royce dirigible now being completed at Howden. The object of the company is to build an airship to carry 168 passengers and with a speed of 100 miles an hour. It is to be capable of negotiating Atlantic storms and to fly from London to New York in 48 hours, and from New York to London in 36 hours. The new dirigible "will cost £500,000. COMPLIMENT TO N.Z. AIR FORCE PRAISED.

MELBOURNE, November 4.

Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith and Flight-Lieutenant Ulm say they were impressed by the efficiency of the New Zealand Air Force. There seemed to be as many machines as men.

Ulm repudiated the idea that he and Smith were fond of dangerous flying. He said that if he were to make a private trip to New Zealand and back he would rather travel by the Southern Cross than by a steamer.