FORMIDABLE RIVALS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 278, 22 October 1934, Page 7

FORMIDABLE RIVALS.

DUTCH ’PLANE AND COMETS. LONDON. Oct. 21. The Australian Press Association’s aviation writer, commenting on the situation at 11.30 G.ALT., said: Though Scott has put up a magnificent performance and is leading the field, the race is being fought at a terrific speed. Perhaps the most commercially meritorious flight is that of Parmentier, who is carrying four of a crew, three passengers and a heavy load of mail. The K.L.M. allowed it. It is understood that Parmentier is not making the speed race his chief objective; consequently little imagination is needed to calculate what lie might have achieved had the passengers been discarded and the large cabin filled with petrol. An impressive feature is the achievement of the Comets. The general belief at Mildenhall was that the most powerful Comet crew was Scott and Black, but all three realised expectations. The pilots themselves admitted uneasiness regarding night landings in view of lack of experience with the Comets, but their skill thus far has been equal to the task. Faced with the competition of such splendid navigators as the Dutchmen, who have the additional advantage of wireless, the Mollisons must be credited) with a phenomenal feat in pilotage and direction finding to beat everyone to Bagdad through trying weather. The Comets’ beautifully-tapereci wings were much envied by Americans and it is certainly a tribute to tlie accuracy of the designers’ calculations that such long distances can bei comfortably achieved without the Comets being put to previous practical tests and endurance flights. The Dutch crews remain formidable rivals. They were the least concerned of all the pilots at Mildenhall, apparently regarding the race merely as one of the long schedule flights whereat they are aefepts.