CLOUSTON REACHES SINGAPORE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 152, 24 March 1938, Page 11

CLOUSTON REACHES SINGAPORE

Short Stay At Batavia GOOD WEATHER ON FLIGHT FROM DARWIN By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received March 23, 11.45 p.m.) Singapore, March 23. Flying Officer Clouston and Mr. Victor Ricketts arrived at Singapore at 9.38 G.M.T., after calling at Batavia on their flight from Darwin, which they left this morning. They arrived at Batavia at 1.20 p.m. local time and left again at 2.15 p.m. They set out from Darwin at 7.12 a.m. local time, and it, was reported that a plane, presumably theirs, passed over Sourabaya at 11.17 a.m. local time. A Batavia message said that Flying Officer Clouston looked extremely tit. He declared that the next stop would be Singapore, and after a few hours there they would leave for Calcutta. He said he was hopeful of reaching London on Saturday. “We had lovely weather between Darwin and Batavia and admired the Sunda Islands,” he added. Flying Officer Clouston sent off several cablegrams and refuelled. He said he would like to have at Singapore two beds, two bathing suits and a good meal. RECORD FLIGHT Sydney To Darwin Darwin, March 23. Flying Officer Clouston’s time of 11 hours 17 minutes for the 2300 miles’ flight from Sydney to Darwin is a record. Both men appeared to be thoroughly exhausted, and when the refuelling gang rushed to fill the tanks Mr. Clouston said: “There is no hurry, boys. We are tired men and are going to have some sleep to-night.” “It has been a heavy and tiring time,” he added. “I cannot realise that we have been to New Zealand. Thank heavens, there is no broadcasting here. My recollections of Sydney and New Zealand will always be of talking and of the seemingly innumerable microphones when I wanted so much to sleep.” The flyers hope to reach Singapore to-night. Flying Officer Clouston met Mr. H. F. Broadbent, the Australian aviator who came down in Java while flying from England, at Darwin, and offered him the Comet’s spare propeller, but Mr. Broadbent would not accept it. BROADBENT’S STORY Forced To Land Because Of Exhaustion Darwin, March 23. Mr. H. F. Broadbent, who arrived by mail plane from Sourabaya, said: “It was sheer exhaustion that brought me down. It had nothing to do with the machine. It was bad luck, for I was only six hours from Darwin and a record. I had been having giddy fits for an hour before I came down.” He added that he came down at 3 o’clock in the morning in bright moonlight. Large stones in tall gra.K, where he landed caused damage to tlie plane. Mr. Broadbent related how he had slept until the afternoon.. When he awoke six Malays were .staring curiously at him. They took him six miles to a Dutch mission school, where be spent the night. He returned to the plane next day for his belongings, and while there was sighted by the searching plane.