TASMAN AIRWAYS

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1945, Page 5

TASMAN AIRWAYS

Thousand Return Crossings P.A. AUCKLAND, June 19 • A thousand return crossings of the Tasman Sea by Tasman Empire Airways craft were completed this afternoon, when the flying boat, “Aotearoa,” arrived at Auckland from Sydney, commanded by Captain Oscar Garden. Few of the 18 passengers realised they were making a notanle flight until, more than half way across the Tasman, at an altitude of over 10,000 feet they were presented with a traveller’s certificate signed by the Captain. It was a normal flight of eight hours, 14 minutes in good weather. A “Herald” reporter, who made the flight, found that the Tasman flight no longer retains its original glamour of adventure, and that the company’s service is now only an accepted comfortable, fast, and highly efficient way of bridging the 1,342 odd miles between the Commonwealth and the Dominion. On the flight to Sydney on Friday, a. smal baby slept as placidly in a basinette as did an elderly lady in a nearby seat. Mr. F. W. Doidge, M.P., for Tauranga, who was a passenger to-day, said he had travelled 37,000 miles by air in the last ' 13 weeks in many parts of the world, and that the Tasman crossing was the most comfortable he had experienced. Roaring out along a flare path in half flight from Rose Bay, Sydney, harbour, this morning, the "Aotearoa” was quickly airborne, and shortly after the twinkling lights of the huge city had been left behind Passengers were being regaled with breakfast voted by them as better than any they had received in a Sydney hotel Most of them dozed and read as the aircraft flew steadily on.

The crew were: Captain Oscar Garden; Second Officer, Mr. A. Carlyon, formerly of the R.N.ZA.F.; Navigator, Mr. J. Kennedy, formerly of the Union Airways; radio operator, MT. J. Jackson, formerly of the U.S.S. Co.; and Flight Steward, Mr. A. Barnard.