MASS ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 14 July 1933, Page 11

MASS ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

ITALIANS' SUCCESS. r ■ ' FIGHT against bad CONDITIONS. i gTORY TOLD BY LEADER -j OF FLEET. inu) pr.BSfl ASSOCIATION —BY ELECTRIC telegraph— copyright.) (Received July 13, 11.50 p.m.) LONDON, July 12. General Italo Balbo, leader of the Italian fleet of flying-boats which jypgged the Atlantic to-day, has tabled his own account of the flight Cartwright Bay, Manitoba. It jesds: . yfe are over the AUantic dash, „ver the North Atlantic this time, Hid for the second time a Fascist air armada has demonstrated that oceans can be flown in mass formation. ' There now remain only the jjgt' stages of the journey to Chicago, completing a formation jight of 7000 miles, adding further prestige to Fascism. This formation flight from the old ta the new world was made to-day under conditions of the greatest pnL Starting off in our twentyfour flying-boats early on Wednesday from Reykjavik (Iceland) we encountered cross winds and bad atmospheric conditions around Iceland- Reports from all meteorological stations were very bad, and the JoW visibility for the first few hours jften obliged us to fly blind with the lid inly- of instruments. During the jrst three-quarters of the flight head winds limited our average speed to 124 miles an hour. Machines Enter Clouds.

' The fleet divided into units of tbrte, and as it entered the fog and elouds, the formation was altered, 18 .previously arranged, by the machines spreading out, controlling tfceprocess by radio direction-finders aboard each flying-boat, the orders going from group to group. Immediately, the machines on each side of the central leader found themselves skimming the waters of the Atlantic, The conditions were absolutely against us until we were abreast of Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland, which we passed 50 miles on our right. Then for two solid houts we navigated through wide banks of dense fog.

A Real Peril. i Here we encountered a very real peril—the danger of ice forming on the wings and metal propellers. The jjJast 750 miles was flown in real tranquillity. Each "V" described a deviation of 45 degrees right and left respectively, to close the formation to its original shape when we .emerged from the fog and clouds. At Cartwright each unit landed separately in perfect formation, the machines taking their positions, by buoys already prepared and marked. We are guests of the Hudson Bay Company, whose Governor in London I thanked for his help in making the way easier. e If is important to point out that this section of the flight fully confirmed my theory that a mass aerial formation can always fly every coune. and every route, esoecially with 85 well-trained men and up-to-

idate engines, as undoubtedly are our Isotta-Fraschini motors, i [The Italian air fleet set, out from ;Itdy on July 1, flying to Amsterdam, iand-. thence to Londondery, Ireland. ■Aftitf several days' therd,' it flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, which involved 'Wore than 900 miles of flying across the open sea. The flight is planned to continue from Chicago to South Axne■lica, and back to Italy across the .South Atlantic, General Balbo led the of 10 flying-boats from Rome to Port Natal (Brazil) in 1931. Each of 'the' flying-boats used on the present ttglit is a twin-hulled Savoia-Mar-theffl, with two Isotta-Fraschini enlinls, each of 925 horse-power.]