ABOVE THE ATLANTIC

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 54, 27 November 1930, Page 12

ABOVE THE ATLANTIC

With Kingsford Smith STANNAGE’S THRILLS “The British Empire ought to be proud of Kingsford Smith,” said Mr. J. W. Stannage, the wireless operator on the Southern Cross’s east-to-west Atlantic flight. Last evening, when, to members of the English-Speaking Union, he recounted some of the thrills which he had had on that trip. “The fog was so dense that we could not see the wing tips of _ the machine, he said. “Kingsford Smith climbed to 6000 feet to try and get above the fog to allow the navigator to get a sight, and find out our position. When he got there the wind w’as blowing in our faces at 50 miles an hour, and so we had to come down into the fog again. For four hours they had been flying blind, and Mr. Stannage explained that it was a severe strain on the nerves of the pilot, who had no horizon to guide him. The pilot had to disregard his senses, and to flv by his instruments. _ Shut up in the fog-enclosed cabin, the four men were flying on. Their senses played queer tricks. Mr, Stannage declared. They did not know’ whether they were climbing or diving. For ten hours the plane flew onwards, with her crew not knowing in what position they were. Expressing the opinion that radio was essential on a machine of any kind, Mr. Stannage said that very few people realised its tremendous importance to aviation, America had a number _ of directional radio stations at various points, but the Southern Cross had no directional-finding wireless equipment aboard, so he called these stations m the ordinary Morse code, and they replied telling him the direction the signals were coming from. The navigator then drew lines on his charts, from the stations and where the lines intersected was the position of the machine. When they got over the coast of Newfoundland it was absolutely shrouded in fog. It was a country of mountains, all heavily wooded, that they saw peeping among the banks of fog. At length they found the landing ground at Harbour Grace. “It was the most wonderful sight I have ever seen in all my life,” he said. “The British Empire ought to be proud of Kingsford Smith,” he declared. “He is a wonderful man, and I am very proud to know him.”