FLIGHT TO AUSTRALIA

Evening Star, Issue 19522, 1 April 1927, Page 7

FLIGHT TO AUSTRALIA

MR HINKLER’S PREPARATION MANY INGENIOUS DEVICE?. Press Association —By Telegraph Copyright LONDON, March 31, (Received April 1, at 10 33 a.m.) Rain and high winds are delaying Mr Bert Hinkler's round Britain Light, which, apart from its spectacular, nonstop aspect, will be useful as a guide to the capabilities of the little eighty horse-power Circus engine for his .Australian flight. .... Bench tests give reason tor the greatest optimism. The engine is e' ml to twelve hours’ continuous flight at eighty-five miles hourly. To permit this Mr Hinkler has removed the fore seat and has filled the whole cockpit with a loaf-shaped petrol tank holding sixty gallons. His mechanical ingenuity is evidenced in many special gadgets, including his own patent fool-proof joystick; also his own designed petrol band pump, with which he can fill up at stopping places without disembarking. Mr Hinkler is not keeping to a rigid itinerary. While the conditions are good, the engine running well, and the daylight lasts he will push on to the limits of human endurance. For general guidance he has charted the following route:—Lyons, Rome, Athens, Aleppo. Bagdad, Basra, Jask, Karachi, Allahabad, Calcutta, Rangoon, Moulmein, Mergui, Victoria Point, Penang, Singapore, Muntok, Batavia, Sourabaya, Bima, Kupang, Atamhoa, Darwin, Sydney. He will probably visit other States after a rest in Sydney.