FLIGHTS COMPARED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19455, 11 October 1926, Page 11

FLIGHTS COMPARED.

COBHAM AND Dl PINEDO. THE FUTURE OF AVIATION. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 9. A plea for a remembrance of the remarkable flights accomplished by the famous Italian airman, the Marc.hese di Pinedo, is contained in a letter to the Daily Telegraph. The writer asks English sportsmanship and sense of justice, in the midst of the singing of the praises of Sir Alan Cobham, not to overlook the Italian's achievements. He says Sir Alan's route to Australia as far as Kupang was almost identical with that of di Pinedo. The Italian flew round- Australia and thence to Japan and back to Rome. He covered 35,000 miles in the same machine and with the same engine. Cobham's flight, says the writer, was 7000 miles less than di Pinedo's, therefore it was not a record, though it certainly gave just cause for British pride. Sir Alan was the guest at a dinner given by the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers. He said the wing sections of the machine in which he flew to Australia were designed in 1916. That proved there were some aeronautical facts which had not been altered. " Aviatioi. is a question of develop-, ment," said Sir Alan. " I think we will never have a new machine that will revolutionise flying. People who are waiting for some patent machine in which they J:an land in a back garden will wait in vain."