AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF AVIATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 9, 11 January 1912, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF AVIATION.

The Defence Department has decided to establish a School of Aviation in Australia, and the announcement has been received with general satisfaction. The department is at present looking round for the best man available to act at> tutor, and it is not improbable that the. appointment will be given to an Australian—Mr. W. E. Mart, of Penrith, who some time ago purchased a Bristol biplane, and has become so accomplished an aeronaut .that he has succeeded in saining a pilot's certificate from the Aerial League. Mr. Hart has made a .number of cross-country flights, mostly between Parramatta and Penrith, and on Wednesday morning he took as a passenger the Postmaster-General (Mr. Eraser). About five miles were covered in ten minutes, and then Mr. Fraser returned to earth, declaring that it was a most delightful' experience. Whatever qualms he may have felt about the venture at first were speedily dispelled by the calm assurance and complete confidence of the young aviator j indeed, he said he was so impressed with the perfect control of the aeroplane that he would have no hesitation in making further ascents with ' Mr. Hart. "I never felt the least nervousness, and the panoramic views were- superb,' he added. Mrs. Fraser, fired by her husband's enthusiasm, then went aloft. The ma; chine on, this occasion traversed ten miles, at an altitude of 600 f t; and when she came down again Mrs. Fraser said she" was sorry it was all over, as it was so very exhilarating. Mr. Hart is the only man in Australia who has received the certificate from the Aerial League; and the people of Parramatta, of which town he. is a native, have decided to present him with an address and a purse I of sovereigns.