TRIBUTE TO AIRMAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 10

TRIBUTE TO AIRMAN.

AN OLD NATIONAL TRADITION. ■n 116 airmen, Major Brito Pais, Major Sarmento de Beires, and .Lieutenant Gouveia, who, starting . °m Lisbcn in April, flew to Macao, I? Sv na -’ were guests of members of the Portuguese Colony in London at a dinner held at- the Trocadero Restaurant. The gathering was organised by ml 6 P ° rta g ll ese Chamber of Commerce. itw Portuguese Ambassador presided. Ine three airmen were given an enthusiastic reception, and each, was presented with a silver vase. Mr S. I. de Lears, president of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, proposing the toast of "Our Guests, ’ said they were illustrious airmen, and had performed a maghificerit feat in flying from Lisbon to Macao, a distance of 11,000 miles, in 118 hours It was a hard test that once more illustrated the old spirit for quest and endurance and was Worthy of the traditions of the Portuguese navigators past. (Cheers). The, Portuguese Ambassador proposed m°S U F Airmen," and said the hold flight they were commemorating had shown the great possibilities of > * fch /° u 2 h , different climates at the gieatest speed. He congratulated' their guests oh their splendid achievement. Major Brito- Pais, replying, said that the gathering afforded him an' opportunity of expressing their appreciation v assistance given them by the Ln & iish authorities in India and Egvpt He would like also to. rerer to the splendid attempt recently made by the English aviators to fly round the world. r e / contended successfully with manv aC !rf S Vv nd had won the admiration of the world.