AOTEAROA ARRIVES

Grey River Argus, 29 August 1939, Page 8

AOTEAROA ARRIVES

NEW TASMAN RECORD Spectacular Landing ON AUCKLAND HARBOUR. I Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn. I SYDNEY, August 28. The flying-boat, Aotearoa, look off lor Auckland al. live o’clock this morning. The flight is expected to take nme hours. The Aotearoa has a range of 2,000 miles. Cap.ain Burgess carries a letter from the Premier ol New Soutn Wales (Mr. Mair) to Mr. Fraser. I t'er Press Association). AUCKLAND, August 27. Crossing the Tasman on the final stage of her delivery (light, from Southampton, the Empire flying-boat, Aotearoa, arrived from Sydney at. 2.30 p.m. The machine reached Sydney from Townsville at 3.5 o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

AUCKLAND, August 28. Completing tier 12 days’ deliveryflight irom Southampton, the Tasman Empire Airways flying-boat Aotearoa, alignted on Auckland Harbour just alter naif-past l.wo this aliernoon, having made the crossing irom Sydney, with the aid of a following wind, .i. approximately 7 hours 20 minute.;. Thus she easily' beat the previous record °f n * ne an d a quarter hours put. up oy the Centaurus in Decemncr, 1937. The Aotearoa’s arrival had

been forecast the night before for uoout J.oo p.m., but, after it had become known that she was flying ahead ol schedule, crowds began to gather around the Mechanics’ Bay base of Tasman Empire Airways, and on Campbell s Point, early in the afternoon in spite of rain, which was falling intermittently. By 2 o’clock several thousand people had assemn■ed and many more were sitting in cars along the waterfront road. The prospects of a good view of the arrival were not bright, until after two o’clock, the sky in the west and south began to lighten, and diluted sunshine gleamed fitfully on the harbour waters. The wind-sock on the end of the breakwater indicated a gentle westerly' breeze. Inside the base building there was a large official party, and a score or more of other guests. When the rain ceased a battery of motion picture cameras was set up on the flat roof, from which the whole expanse of the Harbour could be seen. Press photographers also found lhe roof a good vantage

point. 1 Just before the half hour, the Aotearoa made a sudden appearance ovei North Head, emerging from a mist fringing a big rainstorm which covered riauraki Gull. In a. few moments she was heading diagonally toward the King’s Wharf, and the subdued hum of tier engines could be distinctly heard banking at an angle which enabled the red paint on the upper surface of her wings to be seen. She turned in a comparatively narrow are. descending aS she did so, and roared past the rear of the base buildings al a height that seemed little more than 150 feet. From this " salute the great sea bird rose again, '• and made a second and wider circuit, ■’ passing over Albert, Park and Parnell. '• Re-appearing, she came down on a r long slant toward the large patch of I water off Point Resolution, which y was being patrolled by two base tenl ders and the Harbour Boards launch, - Ferro Lower she came, skimming along with her shadow spreading bef neath her. After making two cird cuits of the inner harbour and - swooping low over Mechanics Bay e base in salute, the Aotearoa alighted 1 gracefully .just outside the eastern f breakwater and taxied into a basin. ( She touched the water in the fair- ; way at a. comfortable distance from the end of the mole. As her hull g sank deeper, she quickly lost way m e a welter of foam, and, with slowly 5 turning propellers .taxied into the e basin, While spouts of water rose on e either side of her silver hull. > wo s launches hurriej in after her at lull " speed. The mooring hatch in her nose k quicklv opened, and the head and 1 shoulders of a man appeared. nt r staff was pushed up between he - wings, and another member of tne a crew climbed out to fasten a blue - New Zealand civil aviation flag to lU a top. Within a quarter of a hour she c was berthed between the special ponr toons, the whole operation having 1 been carried with routine ease. n Owing to wet weather and the eai- ' lv arrival, the crowds on the water- , front were not so large as on former J occasions, but Captain Burgess and 3 his ship’s company were enthusiastically cheered when they stepped ’ ashore. An informal reception was 1 held in the base building, the Government, Harbour Board, City Counc , Union Airways and Pan American ’ Airways being represented. To experts, as well as laymen the ' facility with which the flying - 'was berthed, tail-first, in braby pon- ; toon, was remarkable. When she had I turned, she stopped precisely in pos‘1 tion alongside the buoy. Two heavy ■ lines, attached to electric capstans, ? were'taken out to her in punts on? > being run through a block on a buoy, E ana the other fixed to stein. ’ Then slowly, the massive boat »a. ? warped into the horseshoe of the _pon- > toon, half-a-dozen Air Force iatin„’ ■ from Hobsonville easing her into her ' final position with rubber-ended poles. Less than 15 minutes alter his ciaU > had alighted, the now famil.ar figu e f of Captain Burgess emerged thiou ji the opened door, and the whole ships company, together with the fowj an- ' craft enginers who were passenger., ; marched up the staging to an accompaniment of applause and chees ’ They were met by the Pott Hea Officer, Dr. Watson, and cond^ te <]. ” the examination room minute malities were completed in a minute or two. OFFICIAL RECEPTION. AUCKLAND, August 28. 1 The Aotearoa official reception was brief. There were no speeches. Cap-, tain Burgess and his first officer Mr W J Craig were welcomed with | handshakes by the chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board (Mr W. EDarlow), the Mayor (Sir Ernest Davis), Mr C. A. Furlong (of the Department of Internal Affairs, representing the Prime Minister and the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, Sir Harry Batterbee); the Controller of Civil Aviation (Group Captain T. M. Wilkes), Messrs J. N. Greenland and C. S. White (representing Union Airways) and Mr Har-1 old Gatty (New' Zealand representa-, 1 tive of Pan-American Airways). Mr Craig was also greeted by his

father, who had come to Auckland from the country to meet him. Immediately- after the reception, Captain Burgess had a happy meeting with his wife and little son. His baby daughter, whom he had not seen was deemed too young to be P 1 ’ 6 / lane had to be cleared by the police through a crowd of several hundi cheering people, before Captain and Mrs Burgess could reach the car which carried them home. STARTING OF TASMAN SERVICE. AUCKLAND, August 28. Following the delivery of two other Tasman flying-boats, a regular service between Auckland and Sydney will probably be started in November. A statement was made to-night by Union Airways, in confirmation of information received from Sydney that it was hoped the Australia and Awarua, the two remaining flying-boats to be used on the crossing, would be flown to New Zealand in October. The vice-chairman of the Quantas Empire Airways, Mr A. E. ■ Rudder, staled in Sydney' last week, that the fact that the Tasman Empire Airways, which would operate. the service, had not yet. been formed into a company was of small moment. The company would be formed well before the service was ready to begin. Until the other two flying boats are delivered, the Aotearoa will be used for training of the personnel, and it is probable that a number of survey flights will be made. These will embrace the Pacific as well as Tasman Sea, and it is understood that, when a comprehensive engineering check, to be started to-morrow, is completed, the first, survey flight will be to Suva.

Clipper Delayed AUCKLAND, August. 27. Because essential weather information failed to come from Fiji and Rotumah Island, the departure of the Pan American Boeing Clipper from Canton Island on the third stage of her survey flight to New Zealand was delayed for a day. The journey from Canton Island to Noumea, New Caledonia, is to be undertaken to-morrow, and it is considered certain that the machine will not reach Auckland before Wednesday afternoon. The New Zealand representative of Pan American Airways (Mr Harold Gatty) said that the Government Meteorological Department provided excellent service in co-operation witTi Australia and those islands which were administered by New Zealand. However, observations from the Fiji area had proved inadequate. These reports were of the utmost importance, as Fiji lay' practically midway' on the route between Canton Island and Noumea. It was lack' of information from the Fiji area (hat had prevented the weather map from being completed at Auckland on Saturday, and consequently the departure of the clipper from Canton Island had been delayed. No meteorological details had been received from Fiji fro m2 p.m. on Saturday' to 9 a.m. to-day and Routumah Island, which lay halfway between Canton Island and Noumea, had been silent from Friday morning until this morning. Mr Gatty added that the clipper was to have left Canton Island at 4.30 a.m. to-day (New Zealand time), but because of the delay' fehe was now expected to take off at the same hour to-morrow. The machine would now not reach Auckland before Wednesday afternoon, and if there was unfavourable weather her arrival might he later. (Received August 29, 12.15 p.m.) TOKIO, August 2~. The air liner, Nippon, arrived at Nome 141 hours after leaving Japan. NIPPON HOPS <.',400 MILES. ARRIVAL AT NOME. (Received August 28, p.m.) NOME (Alaska), August 27. The Japanese monoplane, Nippon, engaged on a round-the-world flight, landed here at 1.58 p.m., thus completing a twenty-four hundred mile hop from Sapporo. United States officials sealed the cameras of the seven men aboard the Nippon until they leave the country.