By Leisurely Flights to London

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 June 1932, Page 3

By Leisurely Flights to London

WEIR LEAVES BATAVIA Received Friday, 7.0 p.m. BATAVIA, June 10. The flier, J. N. Weir, left at 7.30 for Muntok. The flight which Mr. J. N. Weir, the young Sydney pilot, is undertaking, will be of a leisurely nature occupying roughly a month, with daily stages of approximately 400 miles. Mr. Weir’s Gipsy Moth machine was originally owned by Major de Havilland and was widely known as "Prudence II.” Later, as the "Golden Quest,” it featured in the spectacular disappearance of Pittcndrigh and Harare in the interior, when they were lost for six weeks and rescued on the point of exhaustion in the Mae Donnell Ranges. It has been reconditioned, painted black and silver, and christened "Edith,” after Mr. Weir’s mother. Pitted with an extra petrol tank in the front cockpit, it will have a total fuel capacity of 60 gallons, giving it a range of 1000 miles in normal flying conditions. ' Mr. Weir, wr~ is 24 years of age, is of Scottish birth, and arrived in Australia early in 1920. He qualified as a pilot about two years ago.