ALLEGED NEGLECT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 141, 1 April 1940, Page 7

ALLEGED NEGLECT

KINGSFORD SMITH'S PLANE INDIGNATION AROUSED Public indignation has been aroused by disclosures that the late Sir Charles Kingslord Smith's famous Fokker aeroplane, the Southern Cross, as well known in New Zea- , .land as in Australia, is rotting through neglect, in a hangar at the Kingsford Smith Aerodrome, Sydney After the great airman was lost on a flight from England to Aus« tralia in November, 1934, the Common wealth Government bought the plane for the nation. For some time irt: was housed and cared for at the Royal Australian Air Force aerodrome at Richmoond. Then it was brought to Sydney. Now it is covered with dust, its tail unit has been detached, and it is rapidly reaching a stage of neglect when it w r ill cost a large sum tio restore it. An expenditure of 10s a week in maintenance would have kept it in firstclass order, but no allocation was made for ih The Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr A. B. Corbett, denies that the machine is neglected. "It is properly housed and fully rigged at the Government hangar,"' he says. "The Government bought! tihe plane with the intention of placing it in a memorial hangar containing other relics of the progress of Australian aviation. Because of the war, and the fact that such a building would cost several thousands of pounds, the project had to be postponed.. Because even more hangar accommodation will be needed for aircraft when the Empire Air Scheme is in operation, the wings of the Southern Cross may have to be temporarily dismantled to enable iit to be stored more compactly.'" The newspaper correspondent who made the allegations replied: "Mr Corbett has apparently been misled,, as an inspection of the Southern Cross showed that the tail unit is off and the control wires are disconnected. It is not, therefore, fully rigged. The aeroplane is in a state of neglect. The tail unit was disconnected to prevent visitors from cutting off portions for souvenirs and from writing their names on iit. No provision has been made for the maintenance of the machine, and it is therefore not the fault of the owners of the private hangar that it is in its present state of neglect." -