LATE MR VAN LEAR BLACK

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 August 1930, Page 7

LATE MR VAN LEAR BLACK

REMARKABLE FLYING RECORD

The late Mr Van {Lear Black, though not a pilot himself, diet an enormous amount of flying. He hired, a triurotored Fokker from the Royal Dutch Air (Line, together with pilots, and' became an. aerial globe trotter. _ His fame rests chiefly in. Ins night from Holland! to the Dutch East. Indies which he subsequently described under the heading of “A Dollar a Mile.’’ .... , Up to the end of 1*92/, 'Mr [black claimed to have flown 50,000 miles. In February, ’IO4SB, he embarked) upon a fliHit front [Croydon to Moscow, makin“ a iron-stop trip to Berlin, 615 miles, iu six hours. Before the month had expired' he had: undertaken another fli'dit. from London to Copenhagen, and back, making the flight to Lon dun in the record time of 6 hours 7 minutes. In March he event from Madrid to Paris, and 1 thence to London, in the one dav. with a record of ten hours’ flying time. The Paris-Lond'on section oecupiedi two hours. From London to Cape Town, and from there to Tokio. and back, was another whim of Mr (Black’s. and he setout. in the liner, accompanied by two idiots, atv engineer, and Ids' valet. A distance of 140.000 miles', this was the longest private flight undertaken, but after reaching Khartoum he abandoned the attempt, -alull did no more flying during that year. , Oil' February 11. 1929, Mr Black left Croydon, again. Ins objective this time beim’- China, but lie iintended to call in a t Egypt. the'Gape, and India on the wav. 'Crashing at •Calcutta, lie abandoned the effort, though the *Oapc Town portion was completed. Early in the present year Mr Black set out on another flight- to Tokio, but did- not carry it to eonipletion. Had' he reached Tckio. and found conditions favourable, he intended to drop down the China coast to Australia.