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Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21826, 4 July 1936, Page 17

A SWISS AIRMAN Adventures. By Walter Mlttel- ?»] zer ' Blackie and Son Ltd. a*® 1 PP- (10s 6d net.) . jthovigh little is known of his record m New Zealand, Mr Mittelis nevertheless an airman of la^ ence ‘ * nc ieed, he is to Switzer - eJ,® uc li the same as Kingsford- *° Australia and New thanon He began his flying more ago, and in those days rath!! e^in e failures were the rule h a j? r than the exception, a pilot itv t° A Ve more than average abilmoiin? • y successfully among the »sof Switzerland. In i prelßeav2hJsii fascinating book. Lord fholto- says: “Walter Mittelland skiff.? 16 of the most intrepid ■His intrtSr* lr - pilots in th e world. I nesa, |tion anT eVer ’ hut on cool calculaIthe a Profound knowledge of I the bonir Ce °* tiying.” After reading IthiskS* on ® can only agree with I that LbS?l N t» with the reservation | th i I l^StpH b t r h 00k haS ’ * any ‘ I the case. K rec °9aisedK has, happily, been I now ftcri_i y a * s countrymen; he is lone cTtito raa nager of Swissair, ■ ental important Contin■°f % He tells the story ■mao’ityJjf.g career with an air|ten He has writ■techajtai j the aviator interested in ■public but for the general a t he one could wish w^^crcom e his modesty am 1 * j* x Piain more fully ies of which JjAentj achieveI first flight over

Mount Demavend, first flight over the peak of Kenya, first flight over Kilimanjaro, first flight over the northern highlands of Abyssinia, first flight across Africa in a seaplane. Such a bald summary gives but a poor idea of his feats. A study of the map published inside the front cover is more illuminating. It shows the tracks of his flights from Spitzbergen in the north to Cape Town in the south. From this central line the tracks cross and recross in north-west Africa, in Kenya and Abyssinia, and in Persia. There was no room to show his flight across the South Atlantic from South America to Africa. Of all Mr Mittelholzer’s flights perhaps the most remarkable is that from Zurich to Cape Town in a single-engined seaplane. The choice of a seaplane to cross a continent might seem odd; but he had his reasons and. as usual, they were good ones and proved sound. He flew up the Nile and then by way of the great lakes to the Indian Ocean and so down the east coast to Cape Town. To do this in 1926 without any serious incident, was a remarkable achievement. His most curious mission was in 1934, when he flew to Abyssinia to deliver a new throne to the Emconcludes his book with chapters devoted to descriptions of modern commercial flying which, though not as colourful as his earlier experiences, are just as remarkable On all his flights he took photographs of everything interesting that he saw. Many of these photoSaphs ie reproduced; they tell the story of flying over mountains and

deserts—more emphatically than the simple narrative of the aviator. Mr Mittelholzer has made a notable contribution, to the literature of aviation.