PARACHUTIST BREAKS. RECORD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22390, 2 May 1938, Page 8

PARACHUTIST BREAKS. RECORD

MR G. W. SELLARS JUMPS FROM MOO FEET

Mr G. W. Sellars made a pan* chute jump from a height of 980# feet over Wigram aerodrome yes-.' terday, breaking the' New Zealand, record he himself established at; Mangere aerodrome, Auckland. la*t| October. ■ . * A large crowd assembled -at Wigram to see the parachutist make ho jump, though he was too high to be 4 clearly visible when he left the aeroplane. He made a successful landing in a ploughed paddock ml far from the aerodrome field, behind. Mount Magdala, On the way dolM he encountered four different wind directions, he said, and in the early , stages he had almost to collapse the _ parachute to prevent himself froni' drifting well, .away from the aerodrome. At the height from which life jumped the aerodrome field appeared the size of a postage stamp, and it was exceedingly difficult to • arrest the drift of the parachute and' insure a reasonably direct descent. He said afterwards that he was very, well satisfied to have landed so cloie to his mark. Mr Sellars intends to leave for. Auckland on Wednesday and will ; try higher altitudes there. he said, was particularly suitable 1 for jumping because of the large's area of flat land nearby and the distance of the aerodrome from the am