ANOTHER TASMAN FLIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 21092, 3 May 1932, Page 7

ANOTHER TASMAN FLIGHT

" SMITHY’S " CO-PILOT A NOTABLE CAREER [Special to the ‘ Star.’] CHRISTCHURCH, May 2. There is particular interest in the proposed Tasman Right of the Southern Cross in that Air Commodore Kingsford Smith met Mr G. U. Allan, who will be his co-pilot, through Squadron Leader J. L. Findlay, 0.C., Wigram Aerodrome. When Squadron Leader Findlay was at home on duty three years ago “ Smithy " was also there, looking round for pilots for his company’s services in Australia. They met, and Findlay recommended Allan, whom ho describes as a first-class pilot. Allan was at that time sergeant pilot in the Royal Air Force, stationed at Worthy Down. “Ho is a very good pilot, indeed, and in 1929 ho and another n.c.o. won the Laurence Minot memorial trophy for No. 58 squadron, of which they were members. Competition for this trophy is open to all bombing squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Flying the three-engined Avros of the Australian National Airways, Mr Allan mad© for himself a name as an excellent commercial pilot, and was chosen to fly the company’s Christmas air mail from Australia to England last year. The combination of too much load and too little an airdrome caused a crash at Alor Star, wrecking the Southern Sun, the mail-carrying plane. Allan went on to England with the Southern Star. When Kingsford Smith took up the running with that machine while they were in England he was caught in a fog with a short supply of petrol, and another crash resulted.