FEAT BY AIRWOMAN

Evening Star, Issue 21078, 15 April 1932, Page 7

FEAT BY AIRWOMAN

BERLIN TO AUSTRALIA GERMAN GIRL'S ADVENTURE News that a vivacious young German airwoman has flown from Berlin to Australia draws attention to the fact that Germany can now oppose a rival to; Britain’s-Amy-Johnson, where flying honours are concerned. And a rival who also has personality, as well as skill. Fraulein Elli Beinhorn, who has made a long and leisurely flight from Berlin, says an Australian newspaper, is a typical product of the new generation which, has taken so gallantly to the air. Like her sister airwomen, Mrs Victor Bruce, Lady Bailey, Miss Amy Johnson, and others, she prefers longdistance flights to any other form of aviation. And she is hot afraid of flying alone over great distances. The fraulein has two great feats to her credit—a flight to the west coast of Africa from Berlin, made last year, and the present flight to Australia, which, by the way, is.the first stage of her proposed journey round the world by air, and which began at Berlin on December 4 last. No wonder that she is regarded in'Germany as one of that country’s most distinguished airwomen, though her feats have not had the publicity which those of other airwomen have. received. She learned to fly at the celebrated Templehof aerodrome outside Berlin, and has a first-class German pilot’s certificate. DISASTER NARROWLY AVERTED.

Early last year Fraulein Beinhorn set out alone on a very hazardous trip to West Africa, which very nearly ended in disaster. She was forced down in the heart of the Sahara Desert, and grave concern was felt for a while for her safety. Four days elapsed, and there was no news of her. On the fifth day the French soldiery in Timbuctoo were astonished to see her walking m an exhausted condition into the town. The flier had left Bamako in West Africa, where the railway meets the Niger, for the 450-mile flight to Tirabuctoo on her return flight, but when still some distance from Timbuctoo and out of sight of the city, she was compelled by a broken oil pipe to make a forced'landing in the desert. She spent two days alone repairing the pipe, but then-found she was unable to get the machine into the air. Then she set out on a four days’ march over the desert to Timbuctoo—which she reached in the final stages of exhaustion. Such an adventure might ' unnerve many folk. But, undeterred by this experience the fraulein later in the year decided to attempt to win the Hindenburg Cup, which is awarded lor the best amateur flight made by a berman 1 during the year. Her original intention was to fly to the Far East; but the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan, after she had started, necessitated a rearrangement of her plans. AGAIN REPORTED MISSING. The route lay through Turkey and Persia. On-December 18 last, when flying over the latter country, Fraulein Beinhorn-was again; reported missing, having' left Bagdad on the previous day. Two days later she walked into Bushire, at the head of the Persian Gulf, worn out by her efforts to reach that town,after a forced landing ninety miles' north. The journey had taken her fifteen hours. Assistance was given by Royal Air Force, officers stationed at Bushire, and also by. Mr Richard Halibiirton, the American author, who is himself engaged on a round-the-world tour by air and is due in Australia shortly. Three days later the German flyer was able to resume her journey. She has since flown over the route to Darwin m easy stages, with a long rest at Batavia, where she remained, pending the arrival of .the British flying boats, in whose company she made the sea crossing. Fraulein Beinhovu is described by those who have met. her as a most vivacious ■ and energetic personality, with bobbed hair and a capacity or adventures which is above the normal — even in. these adventurous days. After leaving Australia her intention is to fly north up to Japan, where her machine will be shipped across the Pacific to the United States, whence she will continue her homeward journey to Germany. OVER FOUR CONTINENTS. The aviator’s Klemni aeroplane, Ger-man-designed and built, is the second of its kind seen in Australia. It is a small, low-winged cantilever monoplane with a German “Argus” engine of high power and with the remarkably low weight of 2501 b. ■ The engine is aircooled, and both plane and engine arc regarded as the best type of modern German design in light planes. In the course of her flights the airwoman has now flown over Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and before

she returns to Berlin she will have encircled the globe, a feat only once before performed by a woman, Mrs Victor! Bruce. The crossing of the Timor Sea is the third made by a woman—Mrs Keith Miller and Miss Amy Johnson having preceded her. And it is a curious coincidence that Mrs Victor Bruce, Lady, Bailey, and Miss Amy Johnson also had to face hazardous adventures in their long-distance flights, each having been obliged to make forced landings, aa did Fraulein Beinhorn, when flying over Persian territory.