“UNEVENTFUL AND DULL”

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21941, 16 November 1936, Page 4

“UNEVENTFUL AND DULL”

MR CHICHESTER’S FLIGHT TO LONDON

MR HERRICK INJURED BY PROPELLER

OfBOM OUB OW* COERB3POHDEKT.) LONDON, October 17. “A dull, uneventful flight,” was how Mr F. Chichester (Wellington) described his 21,000 mile flight from Australia to England in 3J months with Mr F, D. Herrick (Hawke’s Bay). ‘‘Once on the regular routes and with everything in order I did a lot of reading. In fact I read quite a lot of books.” Mr Herrick did not find the flight so very uneventful. He was nearly killed. It happened at Bagdad, after a flight from Persia. They had been refused a passport visa by the Persians because there was a mention of Bahrein Island, where Imperial Airways, Ltd., is making a new landing ground to save its passengers irritating experiences. Mr Chichester and Mr Herrick were hung up for 10 days, eventually receiving their visas. When they landed in Persia again they were immediately arrested, and the consul worked for four days to allow them to set out on their journey again. It was late in the day when they were told they could move on, but Mr Herrick was determined to get out of Persia, whatever the hour. The result was that they landed in the dark at Bagdad, and Mr Chichester suggested that his companion might assist him to taxi into a hangar by shining his torch. Mr Herrick, tired and intent upon his objective, stumbled into the propeller. The first blow struck him on his cigarette case, flung him aside, and saved his life. But his arm was cut to the bone, and he suffered badly from shock.

“I was afraid that he would be laid up for some time,” said Mr Chichester, ‘‘but in spite of his 62 years he is extremely hardy and has a fine constitution. He pulled round in three or four days, and the only visible sign of his accident was that he wore his arm in a sling.” Other items in the “uneventful” trip were flying into a typhoon over the South China Sea. “I thought it was all up with us at one time,” said Mr Chichester. "Indeed X was surprised to get out of it again. The first we saw of it was a few innocent-looking white clouds. I thought they were just a normal bank, and entered them prepared to fly blind for a while. But they got darker and darker, and rain began to come down. It was just as though a gigantic bucket of water had been flung over us. It was useless for us to carry on with a limited supply of petrol, so I turned back after 30 miles of it, and I must say we were lucky for it turned out that the centre of the storm was right over the aerodrome for which we were making.” Altogether the New Zealanders flew over three "wars,” two in South China, and the other in Palestine, where, 6000 feet up, they saw Royal Air Force machines convoying lorries near Jerusalem. Mr Chichester derived some amusement from his companion on each of the three occasions. When they flew over the first “war,” Mr Herrick was sound asleep. After crossing over the second he casually asked ‘‘What town was that?” and while they were floating high above the worried soldiers in Palestine he was calmly engaged in catching flies! The New Zealanders slipped into England unnoticed, landing without ceremony at one of the smaller airports. Only one newspaper notified their arrival three days after they landed. At the moment both airmen have no plans except to take a short rest. Mr Herrick has practically recovered from the effects of his accident, and is keen to “have a look round London.”