WORLD'S RECORD CLIMB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20105, 16 November 1928, Page 16

WORLD'S RECORD CLIMB.

ALONE FOUR MILES HIGH.

LADY HEATH'S GREAT EXPLOIT

STOPPED BY INTENSE COLD

[FROM Ol'R OWN CORRESPONDEN I. ] LONDON. Oct. 5

Lady Heath broke the British solo altitude aviation record at Croydon yesterday, attaining a height of 23,000 ft. more than four miles—in a Cirrus Moth light 'plane. The previous British official height record was one of 20,000 ft., made by Captain G. De Haviland. Tho greatest unofficial recorded height in this country was attained just after the war in a D.H. Napier bombing "piano by Captain N. Lang, who reached 30,000 ft. — or nearly six miles high.

Ascending from Croydon at 11.55 a.m., Lady Heath was one hour seven minutes in reaching hor maximum altitude, but it only took her ten minutes to dive back to earth. "It was intensely cold at 23,000 ft.," Ladv Heath stated on alighting, "but I enjoyed myself. At 22,000 ft. frost formed on my goggles. Tho intense cold threatened to stop my engines, otherwise I could have gone much higher. Tho visibility was wonderful, and I could seo the French coast. I was sorry to come down."

Lady Heath carried no special oxygen breathing apparatus. On previous flights she had not found her breathing affected, and this time sho was not. troubled in any way by the rarefied air. "The two outstanding sensations," she added, "were tho loneliness of flying by oneself thousands of feet above ground, and tho exhilarating effect of tho pure air. Although ono is fully occupied in flying a machine, watching instruments, and listening to the running of the engine, this feeling of exhilaration is paramount." Lady Heath carried two sealed baragraphs, which automatically recorded her height, and these wero taken charge of officially by Lieutenant-Commander H. Perrin, who watched tho flight on behalf of the Royal Aero Club. Lady Heath's Personal Story.

In an interview, Lady Heath said: — "I had brought down all the warm clothes I possessed and managed to put most of them on, but my machine with its new engino climbed so rapidly that I scarcely felt the cold. Five—ten—fifteen thousand feet it climbed—sixteen thousand in fifteen minutes, and it seemed to want to go on climbing. "Cuddled down into my cockpit for warmth, I could not sec the clear aerodrome under mo until I tilted the machine either way, and everything aglow in the autumn sunshine was so beautiful that I completely forgot to take tho sip at my brandy flask that I had promised myself. "Up, and still up, till there, were rio air currents or clouds or birds, and only the still, cold sunshine, and a wonder quietness and loneliness that could be felt. Only the steady drone of tho motor for company and the tang of the biting cold through scarf and fur and leather to remind one that one was miles and miles away from the earth—the nearest Heaven I havo ever been. Still Slowly Climbing. "Slowor/nd slower my little airplane, climbed. To me it was wonderful, looking outboard at my steady silver wings, and behind at my empennage, that such a contraption of wood and wire, and linen should carry rue so high. So slow we were going now that the needle scarcely quivered on the dial of my altimeter.

" The altimeter fitted to my machine only registered to 20,000'"t., and it had gone oft' the map long since, but still we were climbing. Thought I, I shall go down now; it must be nearly as much as twenty-three or twenty-four thousand now, and it really is cold. My breath had frozon into my muffler—and into solid particles in my goggles. So I turned my power off and glided downwards toward the earth again." Lady Heath, who was formerly Mrs. Elliott-Lynn, having married Sir James Heath, the 75-year-old ironmaster and coalowner, in October last, has had a brilliant career as an airwoman. Last May she flew to Croydon from Capetown after a flight in which she established the following records First woman to fly through Africa and from Capetown to England; first light plane flight from Capetown to Cairo; first solo crossing from the Cape to Cairo. She has piloted an air liner from Amsterdam to Croydon, and in October last, with a passenger, attained a height of 19.000 ft., which equalled tho record set up two months previously by Lady Bailey. Prophetic Vision Recalled.

The Morning Post, in referring to the feats of such airwomen as Lady Bailey and Lady Heath, remarks:— " Such aerial feats' by women, whose achievements in the world of sportsmanship and gallant endeavour arc yearly becoming more remarkable, recall the prophetic vision of Bulwer Lylton in ' The Coming Race.' Therein be foresaw a future in which only the females of the race were accustomed to flv. while the mundane male kept to tho earth. But the seer's imagination failed him in one important particular. His flock of angels were wont to fold up their wings at the call of matrimony, and once married they never sought, to escape into the empyrean. Lady Bailey and Lailv [fealli have spoilt that part of the fantasy."