AVIATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 December 1934, Page 11

AVIATION

ULM SEARCH. [by CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] HONOLULU, December 15. Commander J. S. Baylis, of the coastguard, is leaving to-morrow with the cutter Itasca for Johnson Island, Which is uninhabited, situated 720 miles to the south-east, in order to continue the search/ for Ulm. A hundred military aircraft, flying in formation here on Monday, will drop floral leis in memory of Messrs Ulm, G. Littlejohn, and J. Skilling. The Honolulu Rotary Club is providing' the flowers. The occasion is America’s national aviation day, the thirty-first anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first aeroplane flight. SCOTT ANT) BLACK. WELCOME HOME RECEPTIONS. LONDON, December 14. From the time that they reached Dover to-day, Scott and Black, the Centenarv Race winners/ must have thought it was their Melbourne reception all over again. They were warmly greeted at Dover, and a great crowd awaited them in London when they stepped from their carriage into the glare of newsreels floodlights. They were required to make a speech before hurrying to a Grosvenor House reception, which was nd sooner completed than they were hustled to Broadcasting House, from which they retold the story of their flight. Wing-Com-mander Marsden, on behalf of Bruce Linton, also Black’s father, mother, and sister, and Air Ministry representatives, were among those to greet them at the station. Aero Club officials and De Haviland Company representatives were present at Dover. A new “Comet” cocktail has been created in honour of Scott and Black. When they were bombarded with congratulations and questions on the subject, the airmen declined, to discuss their plans for the future, though Black admitted that racing had not lost its fascination for them. Such events as the proposed race from Paris to Saigon would probably attract them if the same financial and technical backing were forthcoming as for the Melbourne contest.

Black expressed the opinion that the Melbourne race was the greatest thing for aviation since the daily deadly competition of wartime when the fight for supremacy produce rapid movements. Black was enigmatical regarding his reported engagement to the actress, Miss Florence Desipond. “If you see it officially announced, I shall expect the congratulations of my friends,” he said. j In reference to a report that the winning Comet ’plane might never be flown again, Black said he was not aware of any suggestion that it should become , a museum piece. There was no reason why it should not be reflown. To-night’s series of welcomes were the first of a round of entertainment confronting the race winners, in whose honour a number of functions will he held in the next few days. ROUND THE WORLD RACE. (Recd. December 17, 10 a.m.) LONDON, December 16. Scott and Black were guests of the “News-Chronicle” at a dinner at Hotel. They emphasised the triumph was’ of team work for “the three of us,” the Comet making up the trio. Australia, more than Britain rectognised the value of team work, without which the Empire could not be solidified. General Shelmerdine hinted at an

early visit to Australia, and suggested the Australian flying corps was born in Egypt after Gallipoli, when a deputation of diggers asked him, as adjutant to the late Geoffrey Salmond, to incorporate them in the R.A.F. Mr Bruce criticised belittlers of British enterprise, and remarked: We are not so foolish as imagined. The proposals contemplated provided a British service throughout the Empire better than anything and anyone else could supply. Cathcart Jones urged that England should emulate Australia and provide a £20,000 round the world race, limited to aeroplanes carrying a minimum of four passengers.