KNIGHT OF THE AIR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 141, 20 June 1911, Page 6

KNIGHT OF THE AIR.

,' Among the arrivals i'rora Sydney b\ ttj« Moeraki last week Mr; Joseph Hammond, ja young New Zealander, who, during a: lengthy sojourn in i Europe, hisui thoroughly mastered the art of flying. Mi* Hammond is tall, '.slight; aiid, fait-. Without any pretensions to ostentation,, he impresses orie ;:et.s-being- keen and\ alert. He; does not lock mexo than 30 years of; age,; before' h&tfs to $;i>h£r; i S ti^S'is' :^y''^d^fe, :-'Bo/is;nfeiJyy.; ' itf chariieijprl lithe :jn -figure; "and has iappyTg^l^kyiwatii^e^ :> ~;; ; -;;i; /•/■Mr H«tiriinpnd (states Tliei Dominion) is/ia^ member of the well-krioWn family of tho name, who for years have re^ sided <at Bulls, Eangitikei. He was born at. Feilding, and y/as educated at St. Pati-ick's College in the days before their© wits any talk of a chair of aeronautics'anywhere in this world. A little over four years ago he left New to "hay© a look round," as he puts it..,'. .Ho yisited, America, then I crossed over to England atid Europe. He w;is attructed by and interested in aeronautics from the start, and mad© it liis business, to be^pr©sent at -an ejei hibition given by Heinri Farman, uji Etemps,'in,-Francs, and'^ftervrards-at Mourmelon le Grand by the.-' same , flyer. H. 6 was at once .seized with a ', desire to know more o bout the new method of locomotion, and, becoming .friendly with Leo Delagrange (since killed by the collapse of a monoplane )> he took up the study of aeronautics seriously in Fxance, learning to" drive ' tho mohopliane from M. Delagrange, ! feiid tlie biplane from Henri Farman > himself... '■■"■"■■,'' '' ;, "■ - •-, _ ; ! Is there much difference in driving tho different machines? . '' ; •■Oh,- .j-esr—a good bit. The mqnof. plane is much more delicate to handle ; thanftho biplane, but it is much the j latters superior in spsed. It was in • tho monoplane-—the Eleriot type— j that I made my first flight in France. i Indeed, nearly all tho flying 1 have done has boen in Franco and Ger- ] nuany." I "1 came to Australia." said Mr i Hammond in answer to an Inquiry, ! "under engagement to the British i and Colonial Aeroplane .Company, fly- • ing in the Bristol machine, and'have' given lots of demonstrations in MclJ'bovwne and Sydney." j What is your longest flight? i \ "My longest non-stop flight was 200 I miles, but that was i,n France. My 1 longest night hi Australia was from ; Melbourne to Gaelong «nd back with- ! out a stop—only 90 n.iles. You see i tli'ere is,nothing to induce one to put up anything in tlio way of records,, as. there is no competition iand uothing j hanging to it. I sup;poso Ihaveniode ; over one hundred flights in Australia, and tli.ejr have bson done without costi ing me a penny for repairs. My altitude record was 10,000 feet, also put. •up in France where big pri,zes are j offered for such foats • but they are very trying on the chest and often on tho engine owing to th* liarity of the atmosphere. I went.up to 9000 feet in Victoria, to demonstrate how a ! machine could soar. J "For some time I held tho altitude I record when carrying one passenger j —4000 ft., but I notice that that has ! been beaton by a German who climbed j«p to 5000 ft."level."

MR HAMMOND IN WELLINGTON

H.UKDKED-. FLIGHTS WITHOUT

MISHAP

! Have you ever taken up more than one passenger? "Oh yes—took up half a dozen, in a biplane once, but that doesn't count 'now. Lotus Bregnet has taken up a dozen people in a biplane. My wife, who is with me, frequently goes up to havo a look round- I was taking passengers up in Sydney <at twenty guineas a head." , Did you get many? "Yes quite a number." ' Any of them get frightened? "No—not' one. All of them behaved splendidly." And what aa-e you going to do now ?

"I've just run across to see my people1; b» here t%vo or three weeks perhaps*—then-I. go back to Sj^dney. X have finished with the Bristol people and am importing Moranf* and Bleriot iT'onoplanes. The Morano is a beautiful little macliine —it was u&ed by Vedromie. who won the Paris-Madrid race the other day."

And what then, j "Well, there is one i>hing ahead— the Commonwealth Government is ju-rangmg a, Sydney t<i Melbourne race, ond talks of offering prizes amounting to £15,000. I will have a go for them in a monoplane. The distance is 550 miles, and it will be a pretty hazardous journey."

'■ Why? , ..; ' , .' ■ f "Oil1 flc^ount' of the bush. Jor 220 iailes out of Melbourne the country is pretty open, .then comes the bush, and bush;is bad." >

How? . , "If anything goes wrong with the machine'over open country youf have a chanoo qi planing down with a fair chanco of .landing safely but it is very hazhtrdbus plunging into troes at a. rate of 60 or .70 niiles ®.n hour. It would mean th® wreck of the msclune, and, most probably a bad. smash-up, if nothing worse, for your.'self. It's a ..hazardous'.■trip/ all right. I've been bver this ground, land I know." Did you bring an aeroplane over? ",. "No; what's the ijse at this .time of the •ye^i'? It would' be risking too much, and there "is nothing to' induce a flight oyorh ore. But if your Government or military authorities could arrange a guarantiee, I might be.able to come, over and give a few demonstrations; n^t, summer.. Nearly ey-eiy country. 7 in .the world is offoringbig money- for flights to ■encourage aeror ; planih^ «^ tin- 'art embodying, a definli.te ' liiio of pvp'gi/disv but I hvxpti't. yeti liieard';6i'' aliytfiing of the kind ias I. regards.: nij;; |own qoimtry—Now Zealand!. '..vln-zgoiid woythei 'one mio;lit ba «.tempteH;;: Ji«>!, : try a flight to Christ•church, ox' Nelson.. lit would be haz^ ■ iardous,' but that's all in the game." ■On landing yesterday i'rom the Mpor«ki:-iMr. Hammbiid t w,as handed a cablegram, wliich contained an offer ■to isupj)!^ him with. a. couple of "Antoinette"•■ ■ incachines for flights in Australia. These maichines Mr. Hammond explained^ wero-.the prettiest -little : monoplanes in the world, and were used :by Paul Lathajn recently in liis sensatipnai flights at San Fran,cisco aiid Xios Angeles.