BRIDE OF THE AIR

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 October 1928, Page 3

BRIDE OF THE AIR

A ROMANTIC HONEYMOON.

Stories of adventures in the air are now popular, and one of the most interesting of the year is that told recently in England by Mrs. Richard Bentley, who recently experienced the novelty of an “air honeymoon.” She says:— When I made my first flight, four years ago with a young lieutenant in the South African Air Force, I little dreamt I should eventually become that young pilot’s wife, or that he would take me on an epic journey across Africa to London. From the bride’s point of view, half the fun of a wedding is the honeymoon trousseau, but my ideas of this were summarily cut short when my- husband-to-be announced: “We will go on a flying honeymoon—to the Victoria Falls, I think. There will be exactly twelve inches of space for your wardrobe.”

I was keen to be the first woman to have an air honeymoon, but I think my record lies in the Spartan wardrobe I pushed into one little case and a hatbox. I took two silk frocks, a coatee for the evenings, a dinnef gown and a bathing suit. .And a parasol—smuggled in while Dick wasn’t looking. The kit passed his inspection, and aloft we went on the morning after the wedding.

We certainly had our honeymoon at the Falls, but just as we were thinking of dashing back to Pretoria, up flew Lady Heath, on her solo flight, and she needed an escort across the high plateaux of East Africa. Would Dick oblige? We agreed to see her as far as Nairobi, and the adventure thrilled us both.

Then one day my husband shouted: “What about a trip to London?” My reply was, “Rather!” We left Lady Heath at Nairobi and began the really hazardous part of our honeymoon. We came down each day at noon, after ascending at 7 a.m., and everywhere we had excellent beds and food. Our trip was entirely unplanned and we came “out of the blue” on the good people of the villages and settlements. In all, we-made twentyseven halts. We would land, wash and brush up, lunch, and walk a little, and I claim that my parasol was an entirely sensible piece of equipment. It was responsible for the preservation of my complexion, which astounded people in England. Often I used to sleep in the air, and sometimes I would read a “thriller” and forget I was flying until I felt Dick swooping for land and lunch. I suppose I can claim to be the first woman passenger to fly from South Africa to London, but I am much prouder of another feat. Stitch by stitch,’seam by seam, I made a frock for myself while in the air."' There were incidents that will always remain in my memory. We saw herds of elephant buck, at times causing a stampede, and once a family of lions. The Sudan behaved dustily, but we survived unscathed, even to our tempers. We sauntered over the north of Africa to Tripoli, sometimes only ten feet above the Mediterranean, but once, when we saw Bedouins, we bolted up about 8000 ft. We crossed the Mediterranean and flew through the smoke of Vesuvius, close to the spitting, flaming red mouth, but the only time my heart sank was when we stalled outside Rome.

We reached Croydon three months after the’ wedding, and they said I had landed as if from a bandbox, with no journey stains after those thousands of miles of aerial honeymoon. I can think of no girl who has had such a unique honeymoon as myself, and I am looking forward to the return trip at the end of the year.