FLYING NEWS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11828, 9 January 1933, Page 6

FLYING NEWS

MRS MOLLISON'S ADVENTUROUS

FLIGHT'

“PACKED WITH NIGHTMARES’’

LONDON Dee. 18

■‘•‘My flight, was-packed with nightmares” declares Mrs Amy Mollison. describing her adventures on. the return journey to England Iroin Capetown, in which she broke her previous best time and became holder of the record for the (light out and for the flight home. “My machine, tiro Desert Cloud,"’ she said, “weathered the most awful conditions in the air and on the ground so superbly would g° anywhere iu it* ‘Aiy worst experience, probably, was near Beni Ounil, in. Algeria, whore the wind rose in spirals. I knew that if they struck the machine I would lose control and he swept to the ground without a chance of surviving. The Atlas Mountains, wbeio tho (wind wa.s howling arid increasing in fury, barred my progress, . and I lauded on the emergency ground at Beni Dunif .between two wild spiral gusts. “I leaped out of the aeroplane and managed to cling to a wire while a fierce air eddy enveloped it. Gust after, gust struck the light machine, sweeping me iroin time to time off niy Aset. I fought for a whole hour to | prevent it from being blown over. “When the snowstorm burst, I was i sure the aeroplane would never weather the night. Afterward I found that the mooring wires had cut the fuselage, so fierce was the buffeting. The aeroplane's resistance to the most varied weather conditions is a lasting tribute to its British builders. I could not'servico’ the machine, as I wa’s unable to carry the necessary repair lot. “Further heavy gales in Algeria compelled,me to return to Oran. Arriving. over Paris after a second sta: t, thick fogs forced me to land at Le Bourget and stay the night. “It is frightening to think what my falowouldhavehcen.il tho engine ],a'd failed while I was Hying for thousands of miles over sandy wastes, jungle and ocean. “My actual Hying time homeward was under 60 hours. I'consider that the Ldndon-Cape trip would take at letfst three and, a-half days, in good weather.

“Sleepiness Rid not trouble me, in contrastwith' the Australian flight, which was longer, hut less intensive. I was sqi full of black coffee and cnl-fein.-that 1.-could not rest when the opportunity offered.”