HISS BITTEN MY LEAVE ON MONDAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 9

HISS BITTEN MY LEAVE ON MONDAY.

A'EW ZEALAND DASH. Airwoman to Attempt New Records. LETTER TO MR. SAVAGE. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 10.30 a.m.) , LONDON, October 2. Miss Jean Batten will probablv leave at dawn on Monday from Hatfield aerodrome, in her attempt to set up a record for a flight to New Zealand. Two extra petrol tanks have been installed in her Percival Gull 'plane and will give well over 1300 miles range. Miss Batten will carry a letter from the High Commissioner, Mr. W. J. Jordan, for the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage. She hopes this will be the quickest delivery on record over the longest Empire flight. She will limit her halt at Sydney as much as possible. The Australian Associated Press representative interviewed Miss Batten, who said: "I hope to break my record of 14 days 2 hours to Australia made in 1934. I will follow the same route and use the machine in which I flew to South America. It is just a year old but is running as sweetly as ever. Eager to See Home Country. "I am looking forward to seeing my home country again. You don't know how much I long for a glimpse of the New Zealand countryside and the faces I know. It will be a happy moment." Miss Batten confessed that the preparations for the trip were an immense strain, especially the fuel arrangements. She is likely to be charged 0/ a gallon for petrol in Italy. She plans to stay a short time in Sydney and to have the machine overhauled before taking off for New Plymouth from where she hopes to go on to Auckland. Mrs. Batten, the airwoman's mother, plans to follow in a steamer a few weefcs after seeing her daughter take off on her record dash. Conspicuously painted on the rudder of the 'plane is a large New Zealand flag. Since her South Atlantic hop the 'plane has been fitted with a self-starter.

EMPIRE AWARD. MISS BATTEN HONOURED. (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, October 2. Miss Jean Batten has been awarded the Johnston Memorial silver plaque by the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators of the Empire in recognition of her South Atlantic flight. .

SPEEDY MACHINES. AUSTRALIAN'S DESIGN. (Received 1 p.m.) RUGBY, October 2. . The aeroplane in which Mr. C. W. A. Scott won the air race, a Eercival Vega Gull, with a 200 horse-power Gipsy engine, is of the same type as the machine in which Mrs. Beryl Markham flew across the Atlantic last month. It is one of the fastest aeroplanes for its power and load in existence. Mr. Edgar Pereival, the designer, is also designer of the Mew Gull in which Captain Halse made such high speed before he crashed less than 600 miles from home. An Australian aviation pioneer, he is test pilot for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. AIR LINER FIRE. DAMAGE AMOUNTS TO £30,000. BOMBAY, October 2. It was stated in the course of an inquiry, held in camera, that the fire on the air liner Athena, which -crashed when taking off on September 23 from Delhi, with mails for Australia and New Zealand, caused damage to the machine and contents amounting to £30,000. Passengers and crew escaped injury, but the 'plane was completely destroyed. PRIZES TOO SMALL. OPINION IN AUSTRALIA. SYDNEY, October 2. A movement afoot at Napier, New Zealand, for a trans -Tasman air race for a £5000 prize is, according to the "Sun," causing a good deal of comment among pilots at Mascot aerodrome, while regarding the event as quite practicable, they consider that the prize money is too low.

AIR RACE DANGERS. CRITICISM IN NEW ZEALAND. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Under the heading, "Let Us Not Encourage Death Flights," the Vominion" says editorially: "No sensible organisation should approve of the proposal for a Sydney-Napier air race. Most pilots in an air race fly at lull throttle from the take-off to the landing. The result is seen in the Johannesburg race where engines known to be thoroughly reliable when reasonably used, have failed, leading to forced landings. In a Tasman race all those forced landings might be fatalities." After referring to the navigation difficulties across the Tasman the paper adds: "There is no doubt that -New Zealand and Australia could provide competent enough pilots, but they are too valuable to sacrifice for a stunt, it is certain that no aeronautical organisation would undertake the supervision ol such an event."