RETURN TRIP STARTS SATURDAY

Northern Advocate, 1 April 1937, Page 5

RETURN TRIP STARTS SATURDAY

Clipper Will Take Off

Before Dawn

[Per Press Association. —Copyrights AUCKLAND, This Day.._ | A decision to take off before dawn. * . , ■ on Saturday on the Clipper’s return ; flight to America was made this morn- L ing by Captain Musick. Mr Harold, Gatty,, will travel in the f plane and return to New Zealand byj;- k steamer later. . Possible sites for a base on 1 the ■ Waitemata Harbour were inspected to- • day by Pan-American officials and- tjhS’. > ?• harbour-master, Captain- • decision will be announced until' after c:, ■ the Plane’s return to America.-Again jV today there was a constant' : stre^« , 6jt| ; ;: people to inspect the planb ~ ridirig b J gracefully , at her moorings.. in,,.Mechy anics Bay. . ■>' 'y ,V',v -/. 'Tv The plane is guarded day and bymembers of the crew.' ‘ MechamcS)|y today are checking every, part-the.?- , great engines,* in readiness for r jdie flight to Wellington tomorrow.. ■' ' |j^|| Australian Trip Not Possible. : Commenting on the cablegram from Australia, Mr Harold Gatty, representative of Pan-American Airways c in New Zealand, stajted that f; there was hd ’ possibility of the clipper /making-a* ,y>: flight across the Tasman. ■ ‘ The whole object of' the .flight was j to, survey the route .between . San, Francisco dnd Auckland and that uiidertalt- : ing would not be completed until the I y . Clipper had returned to the: United States.- ■ y S'i&t C y Not A Fault Found.. v • . „.psj A thorough investigation of the Clipper plane yesterday revealed that.- ; she; : had made the journey from San Francisco to New Zealand without a single i 'ji * fault, mechanical \or otherwise, de- l^yju veloping. ; Moored on the waterfront, .the §hipy was: an irresistible-centre of and there was an endless stream. y pt,' sightseers throughout the-.. - dav. -. .OL course, no one was allowed on boards ' and the crowd had to carry out theirkr inspection from ..a distance. ; y : r£- mS The work of 'checking the Ship ocdtiFT pied, hours, and men were busy inside and outside trying to find, sqxnethiagv / which was not there—a fault of. some., ■, kind or other. ' . . t---