MILLIONAIRE'S FLIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19730, 1 September 1927, Page 9

MILLIONAIRE'S FLIGHT.

LEVINE MUCH ADMIRED.

TRIP ACROSS THE CHANNEL. HUMOURS OF THE SITUATION. BRITISH PILOT ENGAGED. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Aug. 30. Flying circles are full of admiration for the whimsical American millionaire, Mr Charles Lovirie, who made such a lucky, off-hand, lone flight from Paris to Croydon yesterday. He spent a busy day to-day and appointed Captain Walter Hinchliffe, of Imperial Airways, his pilot, for the return flight to America. Mr. Levine said: My pilot is ready, my plane is ready, and I am ready. I only want the right sort of weather and off I go. I have said I will fly across the At- { lantic both ways, and I will." However, a message from Paris says be may yet ho checked. Mrs Levine, after paying M. Drouhin, the French pilot, £BOO in satisfaction of his claims for breach of contract, came at full speed to London to attempt to persuade her husband not to venture on the return flight. Mr. Levine is not likely to be dissuaded if the weather reports forecast a reasonable chance of a successful return flight. The American to-day obviously was in the best of spirits. His sportsmanship has won all hearts. Tie has been inundated with telegraphed offers to pilot ' .his machine. He said: "You English are good sports. Many English pilots have offered to fly mo back home just for the sport and honour of the thing, but I mean to pay well. Captain Hinchliffe simply told me he did not want a contract; he was only too proud of the opportunity of taking me back to America It would be a privilege to do the flight. International Laws Broken. Captain Hinchliffe is one of the crack pilots in Britain. He has been flying since 1913. He lost one eye in an air combat in the war. Since the war he has been

no of the Imperial Airways' leading pilots. Mr. Levine contravened countless international flying laws on his flight to Croydon from Paris. He has no pilot's certificate, he did not pay Customs dues, and he had no passport. These points have been reported to the French Government. While he was making his actual test flight at Le Bourget aerodrome he was within the law, but as soon as he crossed the three-mile boundary ha was an offender. Hence the attempted chase by the French military plane. Again, Mr. Levine left Paris without a log-book or clearance papers, and he omitted to pass the Customs. Continuing his illegal journey to England he proceeded to break the law in a wholesale manner. His machine is not equipped with wireless; he did not carry out the reouirement to circle the coast station at a sufficiently low altitude to be recognised ; and he landed in England without a passport.

Everybody agrees, however that Mr. | Levine had his novice hands sufficiently full trying to keep alive without worrying about the law. The American says he bears no malice toward M. Drouhin, whom he describes as one of the most able pilots in the world. Their troubles were really due to the language difficulty. He had asked M. Drouhin to name his own price and then had raised it. His wife had paid him in Paris. He had heard that M. Drouhin wept on Mrs. Levine's shoulder after the settlement. Wife Opposes the Return Flight. When Mrs. Levine arrived in London from Paris, bringing her husband's hat which he had left behind, she said she was thrilled by his exploit. She thought him "the bravest thing ever." Continuing, Mrs. Levine said: "Heaven knows how he did it. Nobody else does. I do not think anyone has led such a hectic life as I have since Charles decided to become an airman. Fancy seeing one's husband stroll out for a walk in the morning and then in the afternoon hear him call over the telephone: 'Hullo, I am in London. Come right over.' "Why be will not return to America by steamer with me to-morrow I do not know, but it is no good, he is determined to fly home. He might even be off now for all I know. I have not seen him for half an hour." A British official wireless message says Mr. Levine expects to start for America very soon. To-day he paid a visit to the Crovdon aerodrome. He was surrounded by an admiring crowd of people anxious to see the man who had flown across the EngTish Channel without any experience as a pilot.