Evening Post TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1928. UNITED BY AIR

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 53, 11 September 1928, Page 10

Evening Post TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1928. UNITED BY AIR

"At 9.22 a.m. tlie Southern Cross made a perfect landing at Sockburn Aerodrome." Hours ago messages in these or similar words were flashed round the world, conveying the news of the successful termination of the greatest air achievement in which New Zealand has had a share. Behind the brief announcement of success there is, however, a long story of high adventure, of strenuous and thorough preparation, and of patient perseverance. The record of the flight is inspiring and thrilling. In print one may sense much of the greatness of the achievement; but possibly the listeners who patiently waited all last night for news sensed even more, with the anxiety in the gaps of three and a half hours when no word came through, the relief on receipt of a disjointed but reassuring message, and the picture given by the laconic statement: "Very stormy. No observation or reading for two hours." Yet even this picture of the machine battling through the storm in mid-Tasman out of touch with the land on either side and unable to make observations for navigation tells but a part of the slory. Another chapter, the first in the history of Tasman air adventure, is of the gallant but ill-fated attempt of Lieutenant Moncrieff and Captain Hood.. Their signals also ceased, but were never heard again. We shall never learn the full story of their flight; but Kingsford Smith and his companions who dared and won through have fittingly paid their tribute of honour to the courageous airmen who dared and died. They have acknowledged the performance of the pioneers who, as always in the history of human achievement, helped to prepare by their failure for the success of others. Yet another chapter in the tale of Tasman air conquest follows closely on the first. It is the account of arduous preparation and patient waiting. Crowds to-day have greeted and cheered Kingsford Smith as the intrepid pioneer. But he has another side to his character. He would not be the successful aviator if he were not first the thorough and persevering organiser. His battle with the unknown. forces of the air is applauded, but before he could begin that battle he was for months working with dogged determination to make his great Pacific flight possible. He had to convince people that what he proposed could be done; he had to secure a machine suitable for the endeavour, and he had to test each link in his chain to give the greatest assurance that it would hold. The chain held in the Pacific flight in three great transocean stages aggregating 7591 miles. But even then he did not immediately set out to conquer the Tasman. He began another period of careful preparation, testing his machine anew, studying the weather and the flying conditions. Not till he had again assured himself of the safety of his chain did he embark upon his second great ocean passage. Though it may be prose and dull reading beside the epic of the actual flight, the patient preparing is not the least important part of the story. Smith and his companions are courageous but they are also thorough. Thus have the first chapters in the history of Tasman flight been written. No one can say what further records will be placed on the pages; but this much may be predicted— that the adventure of to-day will be succeeded by commercial accomplishments of far-reaching national moment. "The sea unites; it does not divide" lias long been a truism in the British Empire. Now the most distant part of Empire has been linked by air also. Especially are we linked more closely with our Australian neighbours. We are united with the Commonwealth by air. As j Australia is drawn closer to the rest of the Empire, so shall we come in, ! now that the last gap has _ been bridged. Our separation in point of time has been reduced from three or four days to fourteen hours twelve minutes —only the lime distance of Wellington from Auckland. Who j will doubt that such closer contact must bring us into more intimate association and agreement in shaping our national courses? It is gratifying to know that the three Australians who organised and led this flight had as a companion and copioneer a young New Zealander. The generosity of Australia in thus sharing with us the honour of the achievement must make us the more ready to extend to the Commonwealth the palm which her sons have won. The greatest praise is due to the Australians; but New Zealand is proud to have had a small part in this historymaking flight.