MRS MOLLISON’S RECORD

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 19 November 1932, Page 9

MRS MOLLISON’S RECORD

FOLLOWED HUSBAND’S ADVICE PROGRESS EARLY IN FLIGHT SPECIAL FUEL PROVISION. (MOST DIRECT ROUTE- POSSIBLE (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) Received .2.0 p.m. to-day'. LONDON, Nov. 18. In a telephone communication with his wife at Capetown Mr J. A. -Mollison assured Mrs Mollison of the personal pride he felt in her performance in eclipsing his own record flight time from England to (Capetown. Her feat, ho said, would probably do more to advance -British aviation than any single flight yet done. -When Mr Mollison suggested slio must be very tired after her four-day flight, Mrs Mollison said she was not too tired to go on talking. Mr Mollison, speaking at a dinner at Brooklands given by' .the Automobile Racing Club, said it was nearly the happiest day' of his life. He knew' his -wife had the skill to beat the record, but did not think she possessed suffi-. cieni* endurance. Mrs Mollison, in an article in the “Daily Express,” written before her departure, say's: “It is not a pioneer flight, but I wanted to be the first woman to fl,y solo on this route. ’ ’ She wanted to keep her hand in in long distance flying and to satisfy herself in regard to powers of endurance. Mr Mollison, expressing the opinion that his wife’s hop was ten hours oil’ the -record, said she followed his advice to go all out while fresh and to avoid his experience of being behind time and being faced with the necessity' of long hops at .the finish. Mrs Mollison’s machine, the Desert Cloud, is a standard Do Havilland Puss Moth cabin aeroplane, fitted with a Gypsy' Major engine of 130 horsepower and equipped v'ith special petrol tanks. . Normally these machines carry tanks of 35. gallons capacity, but by utilising the space occupied by the back seats for fuel tanks the capacity was increased to 120 gallons, the flying thus being increased from 650 to 1850 miles. The route followed was the most direct possible.

Mrs Mollison used -Aeronautical Association maps previously supplied by her husband.

AUSTRALIAN’S £IOOO -GIFT

CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES

Received -2.30 p.m. to-day'. LONDON, Nov. 18

Mr A. E. Whitelaw, a Melbourne Merchant, has given Mrs Mollison £IOOO in recognition of her performance.

Captain Broad describes the feat as the jnost magnificent -any' air woman has achieved.

Cosfes say's it would be fine for a man and is still finer for a woman, thyiugh there is no reason why' women who he places on- an equal footing, should not emulate men in aviation.

Congratulatory telegrams have been sent -to Mrs Mollison by Lords Londonderry' and Wakefield, the Aeronautical -Society' and Captain IHope, -the King’s Cup winner