AMY MOLLISON SUCCEEDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 May 1936, Page 7

AMY MOLLISON SUCCEEDS

CAPE RECORD BEATEN ARDUOUS JOURNEY [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] (Recd. May 8, Noon) CAPE TOWN, May 6. Amy Mollison landed at three-thirty-one p.m. (Greenwich time) beating the record by 669 minutes. Amy Mollison said that the conditions were ghastly over Sahara, and sometimes she was flying blind. She circled for an hour over a bushfire in Nigeria, killing time awaiting the dawn. Despite her achievement, she was disappointed in not having made faster time, but she was hampered by inadequate areodromes, where mishaps were narrowly averted. She is convinced that a three days’ service between London and Cape Town is commercially feasible when the aerodromes are improved Amv Mollison intends to attack the record on the return trip also. She plans- to' pilot her own plane from London, carrying -passengers -to the Johannesburg exhibition.

ROUND-WORLD TRIP LONDON, May 7. James Mollison said that if Amy had not succeeded he had planned to attack the Cape Town record himself. He disclosed that he and Amy are planning the first round the world flight, following the Equator. They estimated the journey would not exceed three weeks. . Rose (previous holder), inteiview ed, paid a tribute to Amy, as a gallant voting woman. He does not tend to re-attempt the record. “FLYING FLEAS” TRAGEDY. (Recd. May 8, 1 p.m.) LONDON, May i. “There will be an official inquiry into Flying Fleas,” said the Coroner at the inquest into the death of Flight Lieutenant Ambrose Cowell, who was killed when testing a Flying Flea. The Coroner added: Major Cooper, Air Ministry Inspector of Accidents, told me that the Government was giving attention to the matter. There had been seven fatal nose-diving accidents in France and England. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and supported the Air League’s recommendation that the Air Ministry should resume control of inspection and supervilsion. Lord Swinton decided not to ban Flying Fleas,, during the investigations.

.IBAN BATTEN

PARIS, May 6. The French Aero Club entertained Jean Batten to dinner, where she was presented with the Legion of Honour. LONDON’S NEW. GROUND [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, May 7. The Court of Common Council of the City of London approved the proposal for the establishment of an airport at Fairlot, near Ilford, Essex, at an estimated cost of £600,000. SINGAPORE TO AUSTRALIA. SINGAPORE, May 7. Major Brackley, Air Superintendent of Imperial Airways, and Mr Hudson Dysh, manager of Quantas Airways, Queensland, took off this morning in a flying boat for Australia, with the intention of surveying the route. They are stopping at several places in the Dutch East Indies before arriving at Darwin. While they were in Singapore, several conferences were held, but the utmost secrecy was observed. The survey is regarded locally as an indication that a final agreement has been reached regarding the method of operating the Singapore-Australia link.

AUSTRALIAN COMBINE. (Recd. May 8, 8 a.m.) MELBOURNE, May 7. A large company to merge important air services in Australia, is forming at Melbourne. The parties interested are Holyman’s Airways, Adelaides Steamship Company, and the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, all of which own and operate air services. The capital is likely to be £500,000. It is believed the new company will ultimately absorb other air companies. ' Consideration will also be given to taking over the transTasman Development Company, begun by the late Kingsford Smith.

N.Z. MAIL SERVICE. [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, May S. The improvement of the inland airmail time-table, the provision of a direct cable between Wellington and Australia, and the establishment at Wellington of a calling-place for the proposed Tasman air service, were the subject of representations by a deputation from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, to the PostmasterGeneral (Mr Jones), to-day. The Minister, in reply, expressed the hope that the patronage of the recently- inaugurated air-mail' services ' operating in the Dominion would justify a policy of steady expansion, although he admitted that he had been disappointed with the result, so far. It was not possible to abolish the penny surcharge, at the present time, and to send all firstclass mails by air, without extra charge, because there were not sufficient aircraft to handle the enormous quantities of letters.

A cable link would involve an unjustified expense to the company concerned, of £500,000, but the Department was seeking to improve radio communication between the south and Auckland, in the event of dislocation through earthquake or storm disaster.

As to the creation of a transTasman air service terminal at Wellington, the Minister said that the question would receive consideration when the proposal was in a more concrete form. CANTERBURY ENTERPRISE. CHRISTCHURCH, May 8. So that its pilots may have advanced training in aeroplanes of a type in advance of the ordinary Moth ma-

chines in general use, the Canterbury Aero Club has decided to purchase a Miles Falcon Major, of a type similar to the winning machine in the last King’s Cup race, and that which broke the record from England to Cape Town and back, recently. A beautifully-designed low’-wing monoplane, powered with a 130 h.p. Gipsy motor, the Falcon represents the last word in light-plane construction, and its acquisition will be of immense benefit to the Canterbury Club’s pilots. The Committee of the Aero Club felt that a machine further developed than the Moth was necessary for the advanced training of senior pilots, and this one will represent a distinct “step up.” The Club’s machine will have two forward seats, side by side, for the instructor and pilot, and the most-modern dual control equipment.

A big consideration in the purchase of the machine was the chance that it w’ill provide to train pilots for commercial services. The Club feels that it is not right with commercial aviation on the verge of great development, that commercial pilots should have to be imported, because of the lack of suitable planes in which Dominion pilots can receive training also, the new acquisition will assist the reserve pilots of the Air Force in their club.