PILOT'S RECORD

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 113, 9 November 1937, Page 5

PILOT'S RECORD

5000 FLYING HOURS

SQUADRON-LEADER WHITE

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

GISBORNE, November 8,

■•-After, twenty-one years as an aviator, Squadron-Leader T. W. White, chief pilot of East Coast Airways, Ltd., completed 5000 hours in the air on the return journey from Palmerston North to Gisborne on Sunday afternoon.

Regarded as one of the most careful pilots in the Dominion, Mr. White has a remarkable record to his credit. It was when flying over Fernhill, about ten minutes before landing at Napier, that he officially logged 5000 hours This achievement represents nearly nine months' constant flying.

Learning to fly in the .old box-kite types of machines in 1916, he saw ser-vice-as an aviator during the war. and, on the declaration of the Armistice. entered commercial aviation. In the years that followed he -has flown in many parts of the world and seen many revolutionary changes in aircraft, altogether flying in 38 different types.

' A New Zealander by birth, Mr. White- served with the Royal Flying Corps during the war and had the experience of being a prisoner of war. being shot down from a height of 18,000 feet. He landed in enemy territory and was held prisoner for twenty months. In 1921 he held the office of Director of Air Services under the Fijian Government. Joining the staff of East Coast Airways with the inauguration 'of the service 'n April, 1035. he has retained his association with this company ever since.