AVIATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 May 1935, Page 7

AVIATION

PLANE STRIKES FENCE.

[PEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND. May 24

Extensive damage resulted to a sports Avian aeroplane, owned by the Auckland Aero Club, when the machine struck a fence, as it was about to land at the Hobsonville air base. The machine was piloted by Aubrey Breckon, who had as passenger a mechanic from Mangere aerodrome, but both occupants escaped injury. The Avian struck the ground on its nose, and the propeller was broken. Damage also resulted to the wings and the undercarrage, and it was feared upon examination, that the strain caused generally by the crash would make the reconstruction of the frame necessary. The engine was evidently unaffected.

QUEENSLAND MISHAP.

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.J

BRISBANE, May 24.

A privately-owned aeroplane struck a bank at Dalby. The plane overturned and then caught fire. The owner, Pilot A. Garrow, sustained minor injuries, and two companions, M.. Cosgrove and Lionel Ward, were criticaly injured. An eyewitness swung the tail of the machine into a creek, and thus saved the men from being burnt to death.

ITALIAN-EGYPTIAN DEAL.

GENEVA, May 23

’Reports from Cairo state that Italy and Egypt have’ reached an agreement under which Italian aeroplanes will be permitted to fly over Egypt for six months. This will enable Italian planes to reach Italian Somaliland in four days from Rome. A regular service is shortly being inaugurated.

BLACK’S “RECORD” CAMPAIGN.

RUGBY, May 23.

Before the northern summer ends in September, Campbell Black, co-pilot with C. W. A. Scott, of the Comet twin-engined monoplane which won the England-Australia speed and handicap races, will undertake a series of long-distance flights that may establish new records over some of the world’s chief present and future air routes. The machine will be a new improved Comet, now under manufacture, designed to cruise 10,000 ft. above sea level, at a speed of at least 220 miles. The maximum attainable level speed will be abou,t four miles a minute. The range on one fuel load in still air will be'27so to 3000 miles. Details of Black’s flight are not yet finally decided, but it is known he is particularly interested in the route linking Latin America with Eurpoe and Africa.

EMPIRE AIR DAY

RUGBY, May 24

Forty-five Royal Air Force, stations will be open to visitors to-morrow, to enable them to inspect the normal work of the units, and in some cases witness rehearsals of items under preparation for the Hendon display next month. Fifty-three civil aerodromes will also be open to inspection. The occasion is Empire air day, and in many parts of the Empire, similar celebrations will take place to foster public interest in aviation, and exhibit the advances made in aviation sciences. The Air League of the British Empire received from the Prince of Wales, a letter, expressing confidence that the success of the first Empire Air Day last year, when in the British Isles alone, 137,000 people visited the aerodromes, will be outdone. This is highly probable as it is being held this year on a Saturday, instead of midweek.

The Prince adds: li is impossible to exaggerate the importance for the country of the development of iirmindedness, not only among enthusiasts, but among the whole population.