SPLENDID FEAT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 95, 21 March 1938, Page 10

SPLENDID FEAT.

MR CLOUSTON AN “IRON MAN.” Per Press Association. BLENHEIM, March 20. Although neither Messrs Clouston nor Ricketts had had more than ten hours’ sleep since they left England last Wednesday morning they looked remarkably fresh on landing at Blenheim and made light of what would be a trying ordeal under any circumstances but which was made doubly so on account of bad luck in regard to the weather all through. Mr Clouston, on whom the greatest responsibility devolved, looked a little tired about the eyes, but liis general buoyancy of spirit was evidence of the stamina which has won for him in the Air Force the sobriquet “Iron Man.” When the formalities of arrival had been completed this afternoon Mr Clouston had a long-looked-for talk with his own people and the principal topic of conversation was where they would spend the night. Cook Strait Airways had generously offered to place the liner at the disposal of the Clouston family to fly them home. Notwithstanding what he had already been through Mr Clouston was quite readv to undertake the trip, returning to” Blenheim in the morning for the take-off. However, Mr Clouston senior inquired what sleep he had had. “We had a good sleep in Sydney last night,” replied the aviator. “We were five hours in bed.” That settled the question, the flier’s mother promptly deciding that her son should not undergo further strain and the decision was made to spend the night at an hotel there, enabling Mr Clouston to devote time in the morning to check up on the machine besides giving him a precious few hours alone with liis people. . When they replied to the welcome both men were in cheerful mood and made light of their recent accomplishment. Mr Clouston expressed pleasure at being in Blenheim and appreciation of the welcome. “Our great aim was to boat the record of Mr Scott and the late Mr Campbell Black, but owing to strong head winds and really filthy weather we were well behind time at Darwin, so we had four hours’ sleep before proceeding to Sydney.” With Blenheim counting as the capita! he added smilingly, they had broken the record from England to New Zealand and hoped to break others before they reached home again. “NOTHING MARVELLOUS.” Mr Clouston described the .flight as “nothing marvellous,” declaring that a

thousand pilots in the Air Force and many in Ndw Zealand could have done exactly the same, but it was just that they had a lucky machine and had come along smoothly. He paid a tribute to his first instructor, SquadronLeader Chandler, who had taught him to fly with the Marlborough Aero Club. “And a very bad pupil I was too,” he added. “It was such men as Chandler and ‘poor old Smithy’ who did the real work for aviation.” ,

Mr Clouston concluded bv inviting Mr Ricketts to tell the rest of the story after describing how his very efficient co-pilot divided his spare time between tapping out stories on the typewriter and munching apples. Mr Ricketts modestly contended that he was only a passenger on the trip. “He’s the big shot,” he said, nodding towards his companion. “All the way across the world ‘Clou’ has been saying he wanted to get to New Zealand and he was most unhappy when he thought we wouldn’t be able to get across. This morning when we left the Australian coast he rubbed his hands together and said: ‘This is the moment I’ve been waiting for for months.’ ” , I