Page 9 Advertisements Column 1

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1928, Page 9

Inspired by the idea, of being the first in New Zealand to build an aeroplane that would fly, equipped with a. motor-cycle engine, Mr. W. Barnes, a young Christchurch mechanic, built a monoplane in his spare time (says the “Lyttelton Times”). The building took about two years, and was almost completed when Mr. Barnes decided that the machine was too heavy to lie lifted with the engine available, and abandoned the project. Mr. Barnes was very disappointed when he read ,of the plane built by two Auckland youths. Although lie is a mechanic, Mr. Barnes has no knowledge of aeroplane construction other than information gained from books. He has sent for an aeroplane wing from America, and expects this to arrive fibout Christmas time, when a. start will be made on a second plane. interest for a time, Mr. Barnes pulled liis first machine to pieces, and it has now, he says, mainly been burnt as firewood. The new ’plane will be a. single-seater monoplane with a wing-spread of 23ft. and a length over-all of 16ft. It will be powered with a four-cylinder Henderson motor-cycle engine. The fuselage will be built here of steel tubing and doped 'aeroplane cloth.