SPECTACULAR FLIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19738, 10 September 1927, Page 9

SPECTACULAR FLIGHT.

FLEET OF FLYING BOATS. ENGLAND TO 'AUSTRALIA. JOURNEY BEGINS NEXT MONTH. SPEED OF 60 MILES AN HOUR. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (British Official Wireless.) (Received September 9. 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. RUGBY. Sept S. A fleet of .largo flying boats of the Royal Air Force will begin about the middle of next month a journey from England to the East. The journey is expected to include an aerial tour of the Indian coast and a complete circuit of Australia. The machines will leave Plymouth and proceed to Bordeaux, thence down the Garonne Valley to Marseilles. They will fly along the Italian western coast and thence to Suda Bay, Crete, Aboukir, Alexandretta and Bagdad. The Persian Gulf will then be traversed on the way to Karachi. The craft chosen for the cruise are supermarine Southampton boats, with hulls of stainless steel. Each will he driven by two 500-horsepower Napier engines at an average speed of 60 miles an hour. Fully loaded each boat, weighs approximately nine tons and carries enough fuel for a continuous voyage of 2000 miles. The boats are similar in design to the Southampton aeroplanes now in general use with the Royal Air Force, but the metal hull is 5001b. lighter than the wooden hull and does not absorb water.