UNLICENSED FLIGHT

Northern Advocate, 22 November 1934, Page 7

UNLICENSED FLIGHT

ACROSS THE TASMAN DARING YOUNG AVIATORS TAKE-OFF BY MOONLIGHT. NO RADIO ABOARD. I HOPE TO BREAK RECORD. t United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright .] (Received 11 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The young New Zealand airman, Mr R. G. Whitehead, accompanied by Mr Rex Nicholls, of Manly, Sydney, took off from Gerringong Beach, 73 miles south of Sydney, on a flight to New Zealand at 1.55 this morning, Sydney time (3.55 a.m. New Zealand time). It will be an unlicensed flight. With the assistance of flares and car headlights, the machine made a perfect take-off. For a moment the machine was silhouetted against a full moon, then lost to sight. The airmen are attempting the Tasman crossing without even a certificate of registration or a certificate kof airworthiness. Both these certii ficates were cancelled when the Dej partment heard of their proposed I flight a week ago, A compass and an ordinary aircraft chronometer are all the fliers have for navigation. Their destination will be New Plymouth, and they hope to break the record. Only one seat remains in the plane, the .other two having been removed to make way for a petrol tank. The occupants have to share a small cockpit. The machine carries 120 gallons of petrol, sufficient for 20 hours’ flying. There ,is no wireless aboard owing to the limited space. MT, EGMONT BECLOUDED. i [Special, to "Northern Advocate .”] NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day. The weather generally is perfect for the airmen, but Mt. Egmont is hidden by a bank of clouds.

MAKESHIFT EQUIPMENT CRAMPED COCKPIT INTENTIONS KEPT SECRET - When Messrs. Whitehead and Nicholl first announced .on November 14 that they intended to hop off that evening for New Zealand in the tiny machine that they had rebuilt themselves they caused a sensation in aviation circles. Unfavourable weather, however, caused a postponement, and nothing further was heard of the venture until yesterday. A week ago yesterday the airmen were ready to start. For some days they had'.been working feverishly on their small single-engined Puss Moth, but only a. few friends were aware of the fact that they had New Zealand as their goal. The installation of the petrol tank was not compljeted until the morning of the day on which the start was originally to have begun, and one of the last jobs done by the adventurers was the painting of the name “Faith in New Zealand” on the side of the machine. The plane being used by the fliers is said to be the first Puss Moth brought to Australia, and is at least four years old. It was purchased some time ago for Mr. Whitehead by his father, a businessman in Wellington, but is now owned jointly by the two young men, who in recent weeks have practically rebuilt the machine. In the work of getting the plane ready for its Tasman flight, the owners were aided at night by a few friends. A report from Sydney states that no machine ever used in attempting such a flight shows such makeshift ingenuity in its equipment. The oil pipe in the machine, for instance, is simply I a piece of hose pipe fed with a thin j funnel when oil is required and stoppered with a plug of wood at other I times.

With so much space in the plane occupied by the extra petrol tank, the accommodation for the occupants is amazingly small. The fliers sit on rubber cushions wedged together on the top of a' board seat only 18 inches j wide, with their backs against the \ petrol tank. The mode of changing seats in the confined space presented a difficulty until the young men evolved a method which calls for considerable contortions. When a change-over in the control of the machine is to be made, one of the men slips down from the seat and doubles up his legs while his companion crawls over the top of him to take the control. In order to gain a few more inches of room the men plan to make the flight with their boots off. Three Mascots. Each of the fliers carries a mascot. Mr. Whitehead, who was born in New Zealand, has a St. Christopher’s medal, with the patron saint of travel in bronze relief, which was given to him by a priest when ho crashed into a monastery garden at Goulburn early this year. As his good luck token, Mi’. Nicholls treasures most a halfsovereign given to him by a friend. As a joint charm, the airmen have a black .cat badge attached to their thermos flask by a length of ribbon. Holder of a “B” license. Mr. Whitehead left Wellington in 1930 for England, where he trained with the Royal Air Force. On arrival in Australia some time ago ho was engaged in joy flighting in country towns and at Mascot, flying particularly for Kingsford Smith, Ltd. He is 24 years of age and has 400 flying hours to his credit. Mr. Nicholl, who is two years older than his companion, is a member j of the Now South Wales Aero Club and lives at Manly. In deciding to carry no radio, the aviators were guided chiefly by the fact that the less weight on board the better. They originally planned to hop off from Gerringong Beach, which is 75 miles south of Sydney and provides an excellent runway at dusk, and to make a night flight, with hopes of being at New Plymouth at 8.6 a.m.

Commenting on the fact that they intended to travel in the dark, . Mr. Nicholl said they could not get landmarks off the sea or sky during the day, and that they would have the stars to help them at night. “My people in Wellington don’t know that I am hopping over this evening,” said Mr. Whitehead on Wednesday last, shortly before the airmen left Mascot for Gerringong Beach. “Perhaps they would worry if they did, but there is really no need for that,” he added. Mr. Nicholls said that his people knew of his intention and had faith in the pilots and the machine. Before they left Mascot they purchased from a chemist tablets of caffein, intended to counteract any tendency they might have to sleep. On their original start, however, they encountered poor visibility, and returned to Mascot the same evening. At Gerringong they intended to take in 120 gallons of petrol. A Puss Moth machine only sl'ghtly resembles the well-known Gypsy Moth, being of a high-wing, folding monoplane design. It has accommodation for three in a sedan cabin, which has a transparent roof. A Gypsy Three inverted engine develops 120 h.p. and gives a maximum speed of 130 m.p.h.. and a cruising speed under normal conditions of about 110 m.p.h. Very Few Vessels. There are unusually few vessels in the course of crossing the Tasman at the present fine, and none !s known to he ai.y where near the route the fliers might be expected to be following from Gerringong to New Plymouth. The Recorder sails to-day from New Plymouth to Muriwai. The Strathaird is due here to-moirow from Brisbane, but would be far from the locality. The Wangonella leaves Wellington at 4 p.m. 10-day for Sydney and may be the nearest vessel in . the line of flight. The Maunganui left Sydney this afternoon for Wellington, but would be 12 hours behind the start of the fliers;and' on a different course. ! May Mean Legal Action. The fact that Messrs Whitehead and Nicholl ai’e attempting their flight' in the face of the cancellation of both the certificate of registration and the certificate of airworthiness for the machine, suggests that if they are successful in reaching New Zealand some form of legal action may follow. 1 . ; ' •

The regulations under the Air Navigation Act, 1931, state that no person may fly an aircraft within the Dominion of New Zealand unless certain conditions are complied with. One of these regulations is that a prescribed certificate as to airworthiness must be carried in the aircraft. In the case of machines registered outside of New Zealand, “prescribed" means prescribed by the law of the State in which the machine is registered, ■ ! Persons breaking the Dominion regulations are liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding £2OO, or to both such penalties. It appears clear from the cables from Sydney that the act of Messrs Whitehead and Nicholls in taking off from Australia without the necessary, certificate created a breach of regulations in force in New South Wales, and that another technical breach will be committed if they land their | unregistered machine in New Zealand. It is understood. that, in special circumstances, permission can be granted for an unregistered machine to be flown. Previous Occasions. Fifteen flights across the Tasman have been made to date. The record !for the crossing, 11 hours 58 minutes, (was established by Mr C. T. P. Ulm in the Faith in Australia on his return flight to Sydney early in 1934. The best time for the crossing from Australia to New Zealand is 12 hours 2 minutes, taken by Mr Guy Menzies in his sensational solo flight in 1931. Mr F. C, Chichester flew the Tasman via Noi’folk Island and Lord Howe Island (three hops) in MarchJune, 1931. > Details of previous flights; are ! as follows, the blanks indicating ;“to Australia”:

The only unsuccessful flight across the Tasman was the first, which was attempted on January 10, 1928, by two New Zealanders, Captain G. . Hood and Flight-Lieutenant J. R. MoncriefT, in the monoplane Aotearoa. Neither airman was trained in navigation nor the use of the Morse code. The pre-arranged signals were heard in New Zealand pntil 5.22 p.m., j just over 12. hours after the plane had left Sydney, when the signals ceased abruptly. Nothing was ever found to indicate the fate of the fliers.

Year. Time. Faith in Australia 1934 llh 58m Guy Menzies, to N.Z. . 1931 12h 12m Hewett & Kay, to N.Z. 1934 12h 14m Southern Cross . 1933 13h 9m Southern Cross . 1934 13h. 25m Southern Cross, to N.Z. 1933 14h 10m Faith in Australia 1934 14h 10m Faith in Aus., to N.Z. 1933 14h 23m Southern Cross, to N.Z. 1928 I3h 25m Southern Cross, to N.Z. 1928 14h 25m Faith in Aus.. to N.Z. 1934 15h 26m Faith in Australia 1934 15h 35m Faith in Aus., to N.Z. 1934 16h 38m Southern Cross . 1928 22h 51m F. C. Chichester 1931 26h 0m