ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20989, 28 September 1931, Page 9

ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

SOUTHERN CEOSS' FEATS. FROM FIJI TO BRISBANE* ANOTHER STORMY NIGHT. " BLACK CHAOS OF RAIN.*' BY Altl-COIIMODORE KINGSFORD SMITH. (Copyright.) No. vin. [After partaking of the hospitality of Suva and replenishing supplies, the Southern Cross, with 900 gallons of petrol, left Naselai Beach, .20 miles from Suva, for Brisbane at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, June 8, 1928.] £ And now we were off on the third, last and shortest lap of the three from California to Australia. We were all in splendid fettle and spirits. Wc were heading out to sea at 85 knots, and by 4 p.m. we were bowling along at an altitude of 1500 ft. The weather outlook could not have been more favourable; the engines roared with the lame flawless rhythm—and Brisbane was only 1700 miles away—■ a distance which seemed quite short to us now hardened veterans. But on these long-distance flights one can never assume that "All is well" for more than ten minutes at a time. / Our happy smiles soon faded when Lyon passed through a note to us. It read:— "E.I.C. out of action." This was the earth inductor compass, the most valuable steering instrument wb carried and with which we steered our courses. It was our own fault —as such mishaps usually are. The Pacific Scientific Company had taken the trouble to cable us at Honolulu and Suva giving full ! instructions for the care of the instrument, but in the battle of getting the fuel on board through-the surf at Naselai wo quite forgot to oil the instrument. It was a blunder on our part, but nevertheless it was the only mistake we made during the whole flight.. The Lash ol the Storm. Lyon spent a long time trying to get the compass right, but all to no purpose, and for the rest of the flight we were obliged to rely on the magnetic steering compasses. Our navigator feared these were inaccurate since they were subject to the magnetic influence of small metal objects in the cabin, but fortunately the ' steering and aperiodic compasses agreed and we had no cause for disquiet. I climbed to 4000 ft. for the night, and about 6.30 p.m. we settled down for the nocturnal watch, never imagining that we would have other than a fine night followed by a glorious dawn, from which we should emerge flying triumphantly over Brisbane. We never made a bigger mistake in our lives. Old Ocean had not done with us yet - We forged ahead and plunged into rain squalls. Soon the visibility, which a short time before had enabled us to see the distant horizon, shrank to a mile, then to a few yards, then to nothing. Strong gusts rocked .the plane about, giving us no peace; the torrential rain began to drum and rattle on the windshield. We were peering out at a rushing cascade of water, we were enfolded in blackness. Our wet'propellers glistened in the lash of the storm, reflecting the indirect light from the little bulb on the instrument board. I began to climb to try and- get above it. We bumped and dropped and bucked; and raking gusts jolted the plane so i that we had to hang on to our seats; but I always the engines drove the Southern I Cross steadily upward as we tried to | escape from this blinding chaps of wind j and water. Lightning Adds Fresh Terrors. We were np to a height of over 7000 ft., and still there was no relief. This was blind flying with a vengeance and, to add to my mental discomfort, the" glass windshields began to succumb at their frames to the terrific pressure of the driving rain. First came a steady drip on our knees, then a shower, and often a cascade, so that our overalls were soon sodden. As we climbed it became colder until the blasts of wind became positively icy. We were tearing through a black chaos of rain and cloud at 85 knots, and our very speed increased the latent fury of the storm until it became an active and violent enemy which seemed to rush on us ' in an endeavour utterly to devour us. This was a tropical deluge such as we had never experienced in our lives. We reached 9000 ft. . The storm was worse than ever, and it was freezing up there. So cold indeed tthafc the engines began to lose revolutions. I "opened the throttles wide to keep the motors warm. .. j Then came lightning to add fresh terrors to the night. It. ripped a. hole in the clouds, revealed great masses of black nimbus cloud and shot across the sky in awe-inspiring jags. It was ,an electrical storm, and soon a crackle of blue flame played a little eerily round tlio plug leads on all three motors. "Stone Blind" Flying. Meantime we plunged on with no idea whatever of where we were. Any attempt at navigation was useless in these circumstances. We were circling, plunging, climbing, dodging the squalls and hanging on to our seats as the poor oid Southern Cross pitched and tossed Wildly about. This was more than blind flying —it was "stone blind." For four solid hours, from eight until midnight, we endured these terrible conditions, but soon after, midnight I began to hope that we were beginning to run out of the worst of the storm. I descended to 4000 ft. The electrical charging seemed to have passed and though we dodged and twisted in efforts to keep clear of the rain, it was much lighter, though the bumps were if anything worse than ever. About 4 a.m. we came down to 1400ftv to try and economise fuel. 1 Our limbs were stiff, our hands so numb that the others couldn't hold a pencil. The log which Ulm was keeping shows no entries from 6.15 p.m. to 3.20 a.m., except for a brief description of the storm about 11 o'clock that night. ; *• / - ~ By 7 a.m. conditions had so much improved that Warner tried to pick up a radio bearing from Brisbane, while Lyon took a sight, and we altered our course to 270 degrees, which is due west. In other words, we considered we were on the parallel of Brisbane: Our goal was surely in sight. Arrival at Brisbane. ' . As the minutes passed we werfi all impatience to sight the coast, of Australia. The sun warmed the air, our numbed hands came to life again, but our frozen feet remained frozen. As we sped on, four pairs of eyes anxiously scanned the distant horizon. At length we saw land, but we could not recognise it. We swung in over the beach above a fair-sized town, which ,wo identified as Ballina. We were 110 miles south of our course. We sped up the coast toward Brisbane. The chill left the air, the sun shone warmly as we landed at Eagle Farm aerodrome, where a crowd of 15,000 had gathered to greet us. " If our reception in Brisbane was almost overwhelming, what shall I say of the amazing spectaclo that greeted our eves as we flew over the harbour an city of Sydney T It seemed as lftg entire population of ha assembled at the Mascot aerodrome oi *as expected a Ss"ihS r™toif^waoojioo.