COBHAM’S ACHIEVEMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 5

COBHAM’S ACHIEVEMENT

SATISFACTION IN ENGLAND.

LESSONS OF THE FLIGHT.

PIONEER; OP AEIMAL TRANSPORT

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT LOAN'D OX, Aug. 5. Cobham,’« achievement was hailed with a chorus of satisfaction by the newspapers. Display cablegrams were supplemented by editorials, special articles, maps and illustrations. Major Turner, in the Daily Telegraph, says: “C’obham’s luck” is a phrase heard in the aeronautical world, hut .it is not used l in a disparaging sense, for those best qualified to judge acknowledge that what he has accomplished is the result of long experience, persistence a.nd courage. It may now be frankly admitted that some of his best friends .predicted the failure of the Australian flight because he had missed the right time to start, which is not. -later than the -third week in April. Cobham knew that he would encounter a monsoon. Perhaps the most- important lesson of CobhamVs achievement is the powerlessness of a monsoon to prevent flight even in what, after all, are the imperfect machines o f to-day. The Morning Post- says: “Cobham is the true pioneer of aerial transport; he will receive thq congratulations of the whole Empire on his superb flight.'’ The Daily Mail says: “The feat in any ease is remarkable, but when we consider the -special difficulties and delays against which Cobham. had to contend stands out as an achievement of unrivalled skill and endurance, ft was one long contest against odds, yet he triumphed completely. Men like Cobham are blazing the trails that one day will develop into aerial highways, linking up the component parts of the British- Empire.”

OBJECT OF THE FLIGHT

DARWIN. Aug. 6. Cobham, interviewed, said the main object of the trip was to stimulate .public interest in aviation, and show that flying was nob a stunt, but a sound commercial proposition when run by a well-organised concern.