LONG FLIGHT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 31 October 1928, Page 7

LONG FLIGHT

SYDNEY TO LONDON. i CAPTAIN HURLEY’S ATTEMPT. START MADE AT DAWN. ~ .OmtcU LTest>' Association —By Electric Telcgrapi, co^yngtu.) (Australian i'leos Association.) SYDNEY, Oct, 30. Three hundred people forsook their beds early in the morning in order to 1 see the Spirit' of Australia set out on a record-breaking attempt from Australia to London and return lliglit and to wish the airmen Godspeed. The crew consists of Captain Hurley,. Fly-ing-Officers Moir and Owen. Apparently the Defence Department's heads have decided to emulate Nelson and turn a blind eye towards Flying-Officer Owen’s absence from duty, letting the matter go at the offi.ial expression of deprecation already mentioned. Anyhow, he took his place in the plane after what was evidently a most freindly talk with Sir Neville Howse, Minister of Health, who was present to give the venture a semiofficial blessing on behalf of the Federal Government. The plane carries letters from the Federal Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. S. M. Bruce) to the British Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin); from- Cardinal Ceretti to’ the Pope; and from . local Fascists to Signor Mussolini. ' Its mascots include a small statue of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of motoring, and a piece* of the propellor blade of Ross and Keith Smith’s plane, in which the first flight from England- to Australia was made in 1919. The latter excited comment from Lieutenant Ulm, who was present. “That’s an historic piece of wood,” he said. People gathered 1 in the early morn, braving the. extremely cold wind that searched the plain. Just after four the plane was wheeled out and the engine started and warmed up while the onlookers watched with chattering teeth. As dawn vanquished the moonlight the airmen’s farewells were said and thev climbed into the machine. Air Force men having given everything a final- test and looked' over the engines the Spirit of Australia taxied across the ground, then rose and circled the aerodrome and set a course west-nor’-west for Oodnadatta, where thev should arrive this evening. The crew were dressed in l ordinary riothes, discarding the conventional flying gear. Captain Hurley’s chief! concern seemed' to be a- bowler hat. in which he hopes to make history hv upsetting amenities at Calcutta ' and Crovdon. which have never yet been startled by a. vision of such an unorthodox headgear existing in an aeroplane.