NON-STOP FLIGHT

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20024, 4 September 1930, Page 11

NON-STOP FLIGHT

MAJOR COSTES'S SUCCESS. FROM PARIS TO NEW YORK. GREAT RECEPTION IN AMERICAN CITY. (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.) , NEW YORK, September 2. Major Costes and Lieutenant Bellonte, the French trans-Atlantic flyers gracefully landed at Curtiss field amid a riotous welcome. A crowd estimated at 2000 rushed tiirough the police lines, raised,the flyers shoulder high, and carried tnem to the hangar. Both were tired, but smiling.

The landing was made at 6.12 p.m., 37 hours 18£ minutes after leaving Paris.

M. Renee Racovel-, their personal manager, was the first to reach the side of the aeroplane. He shook hands with & nd felicitated the airmen, but they indicated that they were unable to leai, as they svere deafened by the roar of the engines. The crowd fought the police to gain ingress to the hangar, where the photographers boomed flashlights like an artillery barrage.

Colonel Charles Lindbergh was among those welcoming the flyers. Commenting on their achievement, he said: "I offer you my congratulations. You made a marvellous flight. I knew if anyone could make the flight it would be you."

Major Costes has the distinction of making the first non-stop flight from the continent of Europe to the continent of America, and the first Paris-to New York non-stop flight. It is estimated that the aoroplane averaged 100 miles an hour from La Bourget to Miquelon Island, off the south coast of Newfoundland. The Day'a Flight. St, Pierre, Miquelon radio station, was in communication with Major Coste at eight o'clock this morning (New York time), the machine reporting that it would be over Canso. all aboard were well At eleven o'clock (local time) it was reported to have passed over Country Harbour (Nova Scotia). The Question Mark communicated with Gloucester (Massachusetts) naval radio station at 1.30 p.m. (local time). It had previously been reported as flying over Halifax. It was flying along the Maine coast in the afternoon, and passed Boston at 4.26 p.m.

AN UNEVENTFUL PASSAGE. INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR COSTES. (Received September 3rd, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, September 2. Major Costes in an interview said:— "The .flight .was uneventful until I reached the coast of Ireland, where I "rail into dirty weather. It was also rather smudgy over Halifax. The motor functioned perfectly. I believe we flew approximately 6500 kilometres, and we were in the air 37 hours, which is one hour more than 1 hoped the flight would consume." Meanwhile the crowd outside the hangar shouted demands to see the flyers, but the authorities refused to heed these. After the interview, deeoys attired in the flyers' clothes, left in automobiles to detract the crowd's attention, while the real flyers, accompanied by. Colonel Lindbergh, boarded other motor-cars in which they were driven to a New York hotel, It is stated that Major Costes intends to fly from New York to Bagdad, non-stop, in an attempt to break his own record.

GREAT ENTHUSIASM IN FRANCE. (Received September 3rd, 7.10 p.m.) PARIS, September 3. A delirious wave of enthusiasm spread throughout the country as the news of Major Costes's success in his transAtlantic flight waa received. Crowds blocked many streets in Paris, where the latest news was posted. France feols that the deaths of Captain Coli and Captain Nungesser have been avenged by their comrades. AN ADVERTISING FEATURE. (Received September 3rd, 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, September 2. The latest feat in advertising was apparently carried out by the Question Mark. Newspapers to-day carried full page advertisements in French from the principal resorts in France sending greetings by Major Costes and capitalising his feat in the interest of "tourism" for which the French are famous. "Come to France" say the advertisements. FORMER EXPLOITS RECALLED. The late Mr H. G. Hawker, an Australian, in 1? J 9 made a big bid for the prize of £IO,OOO offered by the London "Daily Mail" for the flight across the Atlantic. On May 18th Commander Mackenzie Grieve, R.N., and Captain Hawker left Newfoundland on their Atlantic flight. Nothing,was heard of these flyers for six days, but subsequently news came through that they had fallen into the sea, ard -had been picked up by a passing ship when they had almost been two hours in the water. The two airmen kept themselves afloat by clinging to the petrol tank of the machine.

.On May Bth, 1919, an American seaplane, N.C.4, in charge of LieutenantCommander A. 0. Bead, left for Great Britain by way of the Azores. Commander Read reached Lisbon, and then flew to Plymouth on May 31st. The London "Daily Mail" prize was won by the late Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant A. Whitten Brpwn, who set out from Newfoundland in June of the same year in a Vickers-Vimy biplane, and landed in Ireland on the following day. Each of the airmen received a knighthood. The South Atlantic has been crossed a number of times from east to west, but this route is less hazardous than the North Atlantic crossing. No further attempts were made to cross the Atlantic by air until ' 1925. when Commanders Cabral and Continho left Lisbon on March 30th for Pernambuco, South America. After forced