ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 11

ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

SOUTHERN CROSS' FEA'BS.

RECORD OCEAN FLIGHT.

HONOLULU TO SUVA. MEMORABLE NON-STOP DASH. Bl* Allt-COirjIODOEE KIXGSTOBD SMITH. (Copyright.) No. vn. > . We had taken 06 at 5.30 a.m. At 5.30 p.m. we had been flying for 12 hours and had covered- 1080 nautical miles, approximately one-third of the distance from Hawaii to Suva. The daylight began t-o wane and I started to climb for the night flying. There were several advantages in this. First, it was safer to be at a good altitude in the hours of darkness and, secondly, there was a possibility of being able to keep above the clouds, which were thick-, ening and increasing all around us. Thirdly, by climbing, we prolonged tha day, for the higher we went the longer we kept the rays of the sinking sun in view. But this climbing was eating into our petrol and was getting us nowhere. We wanted horizontal flight—not vertical —yet by 6.20 we had ascended to 30G0tfc. And then the clouds burst, the heavens opened and the rain swept down on us. It poured in torrents and the rain forced its way through the windshield, so that we were sodden from the knees down. We passed 5000 ft., but still those great coal-black clouds encompassed us. Round and round we went in a spiral climb, seeking to escape from them. At length, at a height of 80COtt., we finally emerged from the murk and gloom. Above us were the stars, and suddenly I became aware of the Southern Cross glittering on the port bow, seeming to beckon 'us on. Series of Thunderstorms. Shortly before midnight we had another diversion when Lyon passed us a note. "Just crossed the equator." We were in our own hemisphere again, but it was far from "plain sailing." Here was no languorous tropic sea over which we were flying, but a series of wicked thunder-? storms.

At midnight we expected to sight one or more of the Phoenix Islands, about which we had received a mass of information at Honolulu from the curator of the Bishop Museum. -He had visited the islands recently and was well acquainted with them and gave us charts and photosraphs of two of the islands. Canton and c Enderburv. where, we were informed, it would be possible to make a safe landing. Fortunately the occasion to do so never arose, though prolonged head winds might have forced us down, but we were anxious to get a sight of one of the islands in order to fix our position and to set our onward course.

The Phoenix Group consists of eight islands. The moon was shining, lighting up the face of the, waters, and for over an hour we scanned the surface of* the sea. looking for the islands. And yet w® never saw a sign of any of them. Our course had been set to pass over the group and it was evident that we were off the track. Accordingly the navigator set what he believed to be a true course direct for Suva. A Dirty, Stormy Dawn. Now ensued another of those long dawn watches, from midnight to daybreak E which we found the most trying of the whole 24 hours. I was beginning to-feel ragged and weary, my clothes were wet from the rain, bnfc fortunately it wag fairly warm and we had" no need of oar fur-lined overalls.

! The dawn came, but it.was .a dirty dawn, with heavy black ca mains and nimbus clouds around and ahead of us; thunder and lightning in every direction, torrents of rain and wild air curr rents which bumped the Jlane about to such an extent that we were pitched all over - the place. We had now been 24 hours in the air and the worst appeared' to be still ahead of us, where a heavy black storm with lightning loomed up. 12,000 ft. high. There was only one thing t.o do—glide down under it or get rounds it somehow, since it was quite impossible - for us to try and climb to that heightand get above it. I brought the plane right down to 400 ft and even lower, until - Warner was obliged to reel in the radio, aerial. But it was no better down there,, so off we went np again. Another disadvantage of this climbing and twisting and turning to evade the storms was that it confused the navigator,., who had the greatest difficulty in maintaining his dead reckoning in such circumstances. No wonder that Lyon's dead reckoning position at six o'clock that morning was plotted more in hope than in faith that it was correct. He placed us 690 nautical miles from Suva, which was about seven hoars' flying. Seven hours later our log book records: "Suva in sight ahead." " But Where Was Suva?" For hours we had been flying intermittently blind, with no horizon and no visibility, so that Lyon had been unable to take a sextant sight of any stars during a lengthy period when we had been circling, climbing, banking and turning. The truth is that at this part of the Sight we were not at all certain where we were; we did not know how much further we had to go to reach Suva and I began to worry about oar petrol supply again. We had now been 32 hours in the air: it was 10 a.m. and we had petrol for seven hours left. But where was Suva ? We knew from the heavy warm air that we were approaching the tropic region of Fiji and we now began to look expectantly for la : nd. I had had a long and tiring night and handed over the controls to Ulm while I fell into an unsatisfying doze. I felt I could sleep for hours, but I was soon jolted awake again by a sudden oscillation of the plane. It brought me to my feet. I began to swear at Ulm for falling asleep while at the controls, but he was grinning and pointing with his hand. My gaze followed the direction in which he was pointing. No wonder Ulm had a happv grin on his face. I saw a brown . smudge low down on the horizon. It was land all right—one of the Fiji islands. Lyon managed to get a very good sight, and was able to fix oar position with some degree of certitude. We fotmd that the island in sight was Exploring Isiand. Soon after we crossed the inter- - national date line and dropped a day outof our reckoning, and passed from Tuesday to Thursday. Eecord Non-stop Ocean Flight. We were now at a good altitude again. And looking out for Suva. We were all in good spirits. Our goal was in sight. We were now in fairly light condition, but as we circled round Suva I anxiously looked out for the landing ground. After over 30 hours in the air I knew that I was not altogether as bright and sharpwitted as when we took off. The strain of the blind flying and the bombardment of the rainstorms had added to my fatigue, and furthermore I had never seen the Albert Park sports oval, which • had been selected as our landing ground. We touched the ground halfway up the . field. In front of me was a sharp rise, clothed in trees and thick undergrowth. ~t I had to ground-loop the plane and swing awav to the left as we came to a sto|>. It was 3.50 p.m. We had Sown 3138 miles non-stop in 34£ hours. , As I stepped out to free ~ I had a feeling accomplishment. The^emJ^^J made the longest noiwtop an record. (To f^ecniinned-)