FAST TASMAN TRIP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22621, 26 April 1948, Page 6

FAST TASMAN TRIP

TRANSPORT PLANE DEMONSTRATION TOUR LATEST R.A.F. CARRIER (P.A.) AUCKLAND. April 26. A Handley Page Hastings transport aircraft arrived at .Auckland from Sydney yesterday afternoon for a week’s demonstration tour o? the Dominion. The Hastings, which bears the markings of the Royal Air Force but is commanded by Squadron Leader H. G. Hazelden; chief test pilot of Handley Page, is the largest, fastest and newest transport type of the Royal Air Force Its visit to New Zealand is being made under the auspices of the British Ministry of Supply to try out its paces over Empire routes Crossed in 4 hours 46min. The aircraft crossed the Tasman in the fast time of 4 hours 46 minutes from Mascot. After refuelling it took off again at 3.20 p.m. for Ohakea. which will be its main base fop the first half of the Dominion tour and arrived there at 4.48 p.m. The aircraft will be nt the disposal of the Royal New 7-ealand Air Force and tlie Army at Ohakea today. One of Ps flights todav will be over Hastings, the Mayor of which. Mr. R. D Brown, will travel to Ohakea to receive a message carried by the aircraft from the Mayor of Hastings in England. Flight B v Prime Minister It is expected that the Prime Minister. Mr. P Fraser and the Minister of Defence Mr, F. Jones, will be taken on a flight on Tuesday. The machine will fly the same dav to Wigram with Sir Leonard Isitt. chairman of the National Airways Corporation, and officials of the Civil Aviation Department as passengers. Following further inspections and flights on Wednesday bv high officials from Wellington 'the Hastings will return to Auckland on Thursday morning. It will stay in this area until early on Monday morning when it will fly to Australia on its way back to England. The Hastings can carry seven and a half tons of supplies or 50 fullyequipped paratroops. It has a cruising speed of 276 miles an hour and a maximum speed of 354 miles an hour. The aircraft is purely an R.A f. transport and its interior is “rugged.”