AMERICANS' FEAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 148, 25 June 1931, Page 7

AMERICANS' FEAT.

ATLANTIC RECORD. . •£• 12-Year-Old Time Beaten in West To East Hop. LANDING MADE NEAR CHESTER (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) • LONDON, June 24. "Hullo, England. We've done it!" was the greeting of Harold Gatty and Wiley Post as they stepped out of their 'plane Winnie May at the Sealand aerodrome, near Chester, at 11.45 this morning, from Newfoundland. ■' •; "It has been a splendid trip throughout," said Gatty, "a real joyride. Smooth conditions prevailed the whole way, excepting for the first few hours." The flyers wasted no time. They filled up their petrol tanks, hastily examined the machine, and took off again at 2.5. this afternoon for Berlin, their original goal.

The record for an Atlantic flight, established in 1919 by the English airmen, Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, .was broken, the Americans' time being 15 hours 48 minutes. One of the two airmen, Harold Gatty, is a former Australian naval cadet. The record, which they beat by 24 minutes, had stood for 12 years. It was calculated that at 8.30 last night the airmen were about halfway between America and Europe. Three trans-Atlantic steamships which were on their route had not reported having had any message from them. The only information received came from the Swedish liner Drottningholm, which had picked up the aeroplane's call letters. PREVIOUS EFFORTS. Some of the previous flights attempted and accompanied across the North Atlantic are as under:— May, 1919—Lieutenant-Commander A. C. Read left America for Britain, via Azores. Landed Lisbon. May 1919— H. G. Hawker and Commander Mackenzie Grieve, St. Johns, Newfoundland, to point in sea 750 miles from west coast of Ireland. Flown 1100 miles. June, 1919— Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown, St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland, 1880 miles non-stop. May. 1927—Charles Lindbergh, New York to Paris, 3639 miles non-stop. May, 1927—Nungessor and Coli, Paris to New York (lost), June, 1927,—Chamberlin and C. Levme, New York to Eisleben, 3905 miles nonstop. ' . June, 1927.—Commander Byrd and companions, New York to Paris. Flew over Paris in dense fog. and finally crashed at Ver Dur Mer, Calvados, in darkness. Flying for 42 hours. , August, 1927.— W. Brock and S. Sclilee, Newfoundland to Croydon, 2300 miles non-stop. ' • . August, 1927.—Princess Lowenetein Werthcim, Colonel Minchin and Captain Hamilton, Up-haven, Wiltshire, for Ottawa (lost). September. 1927.—L10yd Bcrtand, James Hill and Phillip Payne, Maine, for Rome (failed). . September. 1927—Captain Tully and Lieutenant M p tcalf, Newfoundland, for London (failed). October, 1927—Miss Ruth Elder, 'Long Island to point 350 miles off Azores. Rescued by steamer, 2600 miles non-stop. December, 1927—Mrs. Grayson, America for England (lost). , , April, 1928. —Baron von Huehnefeld, Captain Koelil and Major Fitzmauriee, Baldonnel, Ireland, to Greenly Island, Labrador. First flight non-stop across the Atlantic from east to west. March, 1928. —Captain Hinchliffe and the Hon. Elsie Macky. Cranwell for New York (lost). June, 1928.—Wilmer Stultz, Lou Gordon and Miss Amelia Earhart (first woman to fly the Atlantic). Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, to L'lanelly,' South Wales.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT. DANES ON ATLANTIC FLIGHT. NEW YORK, June ,24. Mr. Otto Hellig and Captain Holger Hoiriss, who propose to fly to Denmark in the aeroplane Liberty, took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, at 3.24 a.m. to-day.