STARTS TUESDAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 10

STARTS TUESDAY.

DELIVERY FLIGHT.

TRANS-TASMAN 'PLANE

DUE HERE ON AUGUST 27

Bound for Xew Zealand to inaugurate tho trans-Tasman service, the modified flying boat Aotearoa, under command of Captain .T \V. Burgess, will probably leave Southampton 011 Tuesday, August 15, according to a statement issued yesterday by tho Minister in Charge of Aviation, the Hen. F. Jones. Advice to this effect has been received through Union Airways of Xew Zealand, Limited.

The flight is expected to occupy 12 da vs.

The Minister said the officers would comprise Mr. \V. ,1. Craig, lirst officer, M". ■T. t'ussans. radio officer, and Mr. K. A. Thillips, flight steward. Four groun.l engineers for the Tasman Empire Airways base in Mechanics' Bay would travel as passengers. They are Messrs. Knee, Coulson, McXamara «nd Bradshaw.

From Southampton the Antonroa will follow the same route to Australia as that taken by machines on the Empire service. The .schedule fixed is rns follows;

Statute Miles August 1 ■">—Southampton to Athens 1H46 August I»>—Athens to Basra 1712 August 17—Basra to Karachi .... 1:;n4 August JS—Karachi 11> Calcutta .. 1." 1'.»7" August 10—Calcutta to Bangkok .. 10X2 August 20—Bangkok to Singapore :t.j~ August 20 and -I—Chock over at Singapore. August 21 or 22—Singapore to Sourahaya 973 About August -■'>—Sourahaya to Darwin 1301 About August 24—Darwin t• > Townsville i •_•(>} About August 2."—Townsville to Sydney 1200 About August 27— Sydney lo Auckland 1200 1 t.O.VJ To New Zealand In Twelve Days. Over the longest air route in the world the flying boat will, it is hoped, roach Sydney 11 days after leaving Southampton, and then take one day for the Tasman crossing. The delivery flight is expected to end with a landing on the Waitemata on the afternoon of August 27.

History may be made again by the meeting on t lie Waitemata of representatives of British and United States flying services. Now awaiting a licence to initiate their service across the Pacific from Sail Francisco to Auckland, Pan-America n Airways may receive their permit in time to dispatch the giant Smith Seas Clipper via Honolulu. Canton Tsland and Noumea to a rendezvous with the Empire flying boat on the Waitemata. When survey flights were made over the two routes early last year, the Empire flying boat Centaunifi, under command of Captain Burgess, and the Samoau Clipper, piloted by the late Captain Edwin C. Musick, met at the junction of the two great ocean services.

Five in Each Crew. When the traiis-Tasnian service is in operation, the three machines specially designed for the route at the Rochester works of Short Brothers, will each carry a crew of live, consisting of captain, lirst and second officers, radio officer and flight steward. The pilots will also be first-class navigators and engineers. The company's second officers will mostly lie recruited from New Zealand.

Officers have been chosen for the trans-fasman service and, according to tho statement made by Union Airways, all but two are New * Zealanders. The commanders of the machines will be Captains J. \V. Burgess, who is to bring Aotearoa to New Zealand, G. C. Butler, who will lie in charge in Australia, and Oscar Garden, officer commanding Aw a - rua. First officers will be Messrs. C. Griffiths, W. J. Craig and F. B. Chapman. Ono commander, Captain Butler, and one first officer, Mr. Chapman, the former an Englishman, the latter an Australian, are the two non-New Zealanders. Mr. Chapman is already in the Dominion, flying on the Union Airways AucklandGisborne service until required for the trans-Tasman service.

Control officer at the Mechanic's Bay base will be Mr. A. G. Hill, of the NewZealand Air Department.

Built specially for the Tasman run, the modified Empire flying boats closely resemblc the famous Empire type designed for Great Britain's longdistance routes.

Structural differences will allow the Tasman machines to carry greater payload than the normal Empire flying boats. Features of performance are high speed —a maximum in the vicinity of 200 miles per hour—rapid take-off and silent operation.

The machines have an ample margin to run to a 10-hour timetable between Auckland and Sydney, a distance of 1360 miles. Seating accommodation provides for 17 passengers, but it ha« not been decided how many will be carried.

The boats are b'jilt on the two-deck principle, with liuii epacious enough to give full head room to a tall man.