AERIAL SURVEY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 4 October 1926, Page 8

AERIAL SURVEY.

OF PACIFIC! ISLANDS

IMPORTANT 17,000 MILE FLIGHT

Information just received from Sydney states that Gioup-Oaptain R. Williams, officer commanding the Royal Australian Air Force, lias set out on an important aerial survey of the South Pacific Islands. The flight commenced at Melbourne, and the route to he Taken includes New Guinea, the Solomon* Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa.. About 17,000 miles will be covered, and the journey is expected to take two months.

•This is the most ambitious and daring Hi grit yet undertaken in Australasia. It is considered the duty of the R,oy,ail Australian Air Force to learn as much as possible about dying conditions in regions where its units might be .called upon la operate in the event o-f war. The flight is really a. pioneering venture for the Pacific Islands have not. yet been surveyed'-from the air. Groiip-Oarptaiu Williams is accompanied toy a mechanic with ipiilot experience, and a wireless operator. The machine employed is a D'.TT. 50A, with fl o ruts- s uhs ti in tec l for wheels. _lt is fitted with ,a Siddeley-Piima. engine of 240 horse-power, giving an easy cruising speed of 80 miles per hour. Plume motor spirit and gargoyle nvobiloH will be used for the flight, and ..supplies have already been laid down at the various .stages. ' " , ‘Directional Wireless.

In flying across open ocean the aviator is apt to he blown out of his course, unless he has the aid of directional wireless. The route as imaipped out by Group-Captain Williams is studded with wireless stations, and he will scarcely ever lie out of the range ol one of them.

There .are no. .special difficulties expected as far as Aneityum, in the : New Hebrides. From there, if conditions are unfavourable, the flight will be continued to Noumea (New Caledonia) hs the outward terminus. If„ however, the wireless is working satisfactorily and other flying conditions are satisfactory, the next stage will be to Lanitoka (Fiji) nearly 500 miles, the longest'section across the open sea. It is a part of the Pacific little used by ships, so that it is. important to have the aid of directional wireless. Pilot’s Waif Service.

Group-Captain Williams was a very young officer in the war, but rose t<> be a Lieuteiiant-C’oionel. He was one of the first Australians to do aviation work. He had command of the First Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, which did. good work in Palestine .in 1917 arid 1918. It was in this corps that the late Sir Rloss Smith made good as an airman. Williams’ later service was in command of the fortieth wing of the Royal Air Force, and after the armistice he was left in command of the whole Palestine brigade of the Royal Air. Force. Later he got some valuable experience as Australian Staff Officer for Aviation in London. Ho also spent .a year .studying the latest methods at Oamiberley, the exclusive British Staff College.