Interesting Air Cruise

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 74, 28 March 1936, Page 5

Interesting Air Cruise

Sydney io London by Way of Arctic Circle

PLANS OF CHICHESTER AND COMPANION Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Last Night. An aero cruise from Sydney to London by way of the East Indies, China, Manchukuo, Siberia and tho Arctic Circle, Archangel an<’ Norway, is the project of two Wellington men. One is Mr. F. C. Chichester, already well known as an aviator and author. He made the second solo flight from England to Australia at the end of 1921), the first solo crossing of the Tasman to Australia via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands in 1931, for which ho was the first recipient of the Johnstone Memorial Plaque, and the first flight from Australia to Japan. The other air traveller is Mr. F. D. Herrick, who was the first through-passenger to book on the Australia to England airmail service last year.

The flight, which is to occupy three months, will start in June. Mr. Chichester said to-day that they were hoping to obtain a Puss Moth machine from England, but had not yet definitely decided on a machine. He himself woud act as pilot. Mr. Herrick, who was financing the venture, would be able to relieve him at the controls when in the air, but as he had no license, would not be able to land the machine.

The route, -which read like an extract from a gazetteer, was a particularly interesting one. From Sydney the airmen would cross Australia and proceed through tho Dutch East Indies, the Celebes and Borneo to Singapore. Thence they would traverse Siam and French Indo-Ohina, and fly by way of Hankow and Pckiug across China to Harbin, iu Manchukuo. If the Japanese authorities cavilled at letting them enter Manchukuo, they would get out across the lonely stretches of Gobi des rt. They would cross the whole of the wido expanse of Asiatic Russia by Syrcteusk, Yeniseisk and Tobolsk to Archangel, on the White Sea. ,

They would tour Scandinavia and northern Europe by air until they reached Lausanne, iu Switzerland, where Mr. Horrick had an appointment. After that they would go on to London.

They expected, said Mr. Chichester, to spend about three months on the trip. They -would loiter in those countries that pleased them and would change their plans as it suited them. Beyond London they had no definite ideas, but they would certainly come back to New Zealand, and ho could not visualise either of them coining otherwise than by air. Both men found difficulty in stating any ostensible motive for their flight beyond love of travel and lust for flight. "1 am wedded to flying,” said Mr. Chichester. “I cannot abandon it now for any other way of travelling. By air you seem able to get right into the heart of a country. T enjoy the contrast of one country after another in quick succession.”