AVIATION.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19505, 29 December 1928, Page 6

AVIATION.

PROGRESS IN 1928.

NEW ZEALAND DISCOVERED BY

AIR. For New Zealand, and especially for Canterbury, 1928 forms an epoch in aviation history, for then it was that New Zealand was discovered by air. In 1492 Tasman skirted our coasts in a wooden sailer, and returned to tell of a land, long, narrow and "uplifted high," clothed in virgin bush and peopled by a brown-skinned race who had murdered four of his crew. In 1769, 127 years later, came Cook, the greatest of all English navigators, in hi 3 barque "Endeavour" to claim this land for Britain. One fine spring morning in September, 1928, all New Zealand was agog and 30,000 people of Canterbury scanned the northern horizon, eager to catch the first glimpse of the Southern Cross bearing Kingsford Smith and his gallant companions in the first crossing of the Tasman by air. It was one of the truly great days in New Zealand's history, and until there arises another element to conquer or another invention of man to conquer those existing this day •will stand unrivalled in greatness. Tasman, Cook, and Kingsford Smith are three names which history will place together. Tasman gave his name to a sea, Cook to a strait, but it was left to posterity to honour their memory. Conquest by air came in a different age, and the heroes of the venture were fittingly received. Dawn the years, one of the landmarks will be a marble slab laid in Canterbury soil telling that four intrepid airmen, "came on the wings of the morning." Men of to-day, recounting their yesterdays to their children and children's children, will name as one of their great moments the occasion on which they were privileged to witness the end of this epic flight. They will tell how Canterbury rose to welcome the aeronauts amid scenes of enthusiasm unexampled in its history. The story will go down wrapped in the glamour of the past, and posterity for generations to come will agree that it was a "great day." Kingsford Smith wiil be a household name. Children off to school will read the story in their lesson books and marvel at the exploit. In drawingroom, club, kitchen, and hotel, the incidents of the flight will bo remembered and ruminated upon. Such are the circumstances which make events epic and the period of their happening an epoch. Other Flights in 1928. The journey back was no less meritorious, and to these two flights Australia and New Zealand will assign high places in their aviation history. These men made another flight in 1928, which gave them fame, that from San Francisco to Brisbane. It was a much longer one, but not so difficult as tho Tasman crossing. Here they travelled 6400 miles in 83 flying hours, but not without a break. On the Tasman crossing they travelled 1660 miles at one stretch in 14 hours 25 minutes. These are not the world's greatest flights, for Colonel Lindbergh must still claim that honour, but for New Zealand and Australia they mark an era in aviation. Another flight in 1928 claims notice, that of Bert Hinkler, also an Australian, from England to Australia, 10,500 miles in 16 days. He flew solo in a Moth plane, and holds the record for the trip. Captain Frank Hurley tried to beat it, but came to grief halfway. Pioneer Achievement. In aviation generally the future will bring achievement no less significant than that of 1928, but much of it will not be pioneer achievement. Other men will fly the Tasman—and beyond—but they will follow in the wake of others. For the first time aeroplanes are piercing Antarctica, and Captain Wilkins has already achieved signal success there. Where a dog sledge would have taken months, his monoplane went in half a day, to make fresh discoveries in an unknown continent. To say that aviation "is revolutionising transport is to state the obvious, for the change will be as great as that produced by the steam engine and greater than that produced by the internal combustion engine, and the electric motor. It differs from these because it was dire necessity during the war years, which made for developments greater than would have otherwise taken place. War gave a spur to invention and afforded scope for experiment which would have been prosecuted much less vigorously in time of peace. It was as a war machine that the aeroplane came into its own, and in ten years of peace there has been development quite abnormal. Civil Aviation. In civil life to-day, the air ranks as an important factor. Clubs to train the young in aviation have sprung into existence in New Zealand during the past year, and as 1928 closes such a club in Christchurch is preparing to teach its members to fly. What would the Georgian or Victorian Englishman have thought of it? Aviation as a commercial enterprise is common in Europe and America, with Australia fast following suit. The Americans have their aerial taxis, and enthusiasts, even in New Zealand, own private 'planes. It will be an interesting question of international law as to who owns the air. Other problems as interesting will arise and will be solved. Fresh fields will be explored and exploited and the aeroplane—still something of a novelty to us of 1928 —will sink to commonplace 'as it gradually installs itself in the service of man to aid him in his favourite sport of goading civilisation along at an ever-quickening gait.