Air Race Pilots on Way Home

Manawatu Times, Volume 59, Issue 272, 20 November 1934, Page 4

Air Race Pilots on Way Home

COLONEL TURNER'S VIEWS For Press Association. AUCKLAND, Nov. 17. Captain Roscoe Turner, Clyde Pangborn, and Miss I\. Nichols, who won the second prize in the speed section of the Centenary air race, are returning to the United States on the Mariposa with their Boeing monoplane. Turner said that the race was splendidly organised and the time put up by Scott and Black was marvellous. All credit was due to thorn.

The reception he a/d other airmen got was the finest in the world, he remarked. He was certain that none of the competitors were alter the money; his own expenses, without the cost of the aeroplane, were 25,000 dollars. Turner expressed great regret at the disaster at Longreach and said that there were four main things which might have been the cause of such n crash: (1) An error of judgment by the pilot near the ground; (2) improper inspection of the aeroplane before the flight; (3) some form of structural failure; or (4) the weather. In America they found that the most important work in aviation was the proper servicing of machines.

He said that there was no reason why a regular trans-Tasman air service should not come within a few years. With proper ground organisation ana equipment such a service should be perfectly safe. Fraulcin Then Rosclie, the young German journalist and aviatrix, who flow as a passenger in the Dutch aeroplane, is also on the Mariposa. She said that alt the passengers on. tho Douglas had a feeling of absolute safety throughout. She said that she took over the controls between Darwin and Cloncurry. Parmentier and Moll were very tired and she flew it for four hours to give them a chance to sleep.