TWENTY-THREE HOURS IN THE AIR

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 80, 15 October 1928, Page 10

TWENTY-THREE HOURS IN THE AIR

HEAD WINDS ALL THE WAY AIRMEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CROSSING The westward flight of the Southern, Cross from Blenheim to the Richmond Aerodrome, Sydney, is a further triumph for the men, their machine, and aviation generally, and it is the latter aspect that will be emphasised by Captain Kingsford Smith and Lieutenant Ulm, for all along it ha been their expressed aim to prove, by such flights as they have made, that great air services will develop and must develop. The flight to New Zealand was a tremendous adventure, so also the return flight. On the first the airmen shot across with a strong following wind, averaging 28 miles an hour, but even so. had to contend with conditions as bad as any they have met with since taking oif from the Californian coast across the Pacific, conditions very much worse than they had anticipated from weather reports then available to them. It was recognised as almost inevitable that at this time of the year the return flight would be more difficult, as, except for brief and uncertain intervals, the storm movement is from west to east, in the face of the flyers. The prospects as to cbnditions when the Southern Cross took off from Blenheim were more favourable than they had been for many days previous, but, even so, were the best of a bad lot. The expectations of favourable winds off the Australian coast were not fully realised, though conditions were less severe, and whereas the ' flight to New Zealand (1660 land miles to Sockburn) was achieved in .14 hours 25 minutes, at an average speed of 110 miles per hour, the struggle against head winds on the 1550 mile return flight was fought out almost round the clock. The times given by Lieutenant Ulm are 4.55 a.m. Saturday, as the take-off, and 3.55 a.m. Sunday (Sydney time corrected to New Zealand , standard time) as the landing, twenty-three hours dead. "The fact that these flights were made in such adverse weather will, we hope," said Lieutenant Ulm upon arrival, "be a further demonstration to the public of the safety and utility of. organised flying."