ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20990, 29 September 1931, Page 11

ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

——•■-. * ;. I e ' SOUTHERN CROSS' MA^S, MANY HONOURS AND GIFW PLANS FOR NEW VENTUREI>iA COMING TO NEW ZEALAND.'BY AIR-COMMODORE KINGSrORD SMITH. (Copyright.) No. IX. Many honours and gifts were bestowed on us for our flight, chief among them being the Air Force Cross, which the King conferred on Ulm and myself. The Government of the Commonwealth appointed me honorary squadron leader in the Royal Australian Air Force and Ulm flight-lieutenant, and presented us with a cheque for £SOOO, while numerous newspaper and private subscriptions were made on our behalf, the total aggregating o\'er £20,000 in all. Later we received several important trophies for the flight, among them being the American National Geographic Society's medal and the trophy of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Confident in our plane and in ourselves, we began to visualise a flight round the world, but before I could set out on such a venture there were a number of preliminary flights to be made. Before coming to these, however. I should like to discuss our transpacific flight and to review the lessons which it taught us. Now that we had accomplished the transpacific journey, I felt that I was in a position to assume that I knew something about long-distance flying and that I had established my credentials in this sphere of aerial activity. I had certainly learned a great deal, and the outstanding object lesson was the paramount importance of the ability to fly blind for long periods in bad weather, such as rain,' cloud and fog, to which I have made vious reference. Importance of Navigation. ....... The essential part that navigation plays in,long-distance flying was brought home to me. Lyon was very frequently called upon to exercise his judgment in very " difficult circumstances. The continual changing of course when attempting to fly round storms, the numerous bumps. and the fact that he was for long periods unable to catch sight of sun or star forced him to rely on his dead reckoning. That his reckoning was as accurate as possible in the circumstances is proved by the fact that we made our destination "at Suva without having sighted a single landmark, and when one remembers that we were making for a very small dot in a large ocean, the importance of being able to steer an accurate course based on the ability to obtain one's position from time to time is evident. There is no doubt . that astronomical navigation for planes is passing, to be superseded by wireless navigation, which consists in its essentials of the reception '•" of cross bearings from radio stations, thus giving the plane's position at any time with comparative simplicity. The sextant for aerial navigation is gradually taking second place to radio. - Radio communication with the outer world is of enormous assistance on longdistance flying. The fact that one is in communication with ship or'shore gives confidence, and the development of the radio beacon by which a great circle beam is transmitted along which the plane can fly will make ocean flying • much safer in the future. v Improvements in Engines, "v • Another lesson of our flight was the proof it gave of the high efficiency of the modern aero engine. The. reader will have learned already how faultlessly our engines played their part on the flight. We flew for three consecutive periods of 27 hours 27 minutes, 34 hours 50 minutes and 21 hours 21 minutes—a total,of 83 hours 38 minutes. Throughout this period the engines were revolving at an average rate of 1600 revs, per minute, so that the total number of revolutions for each engine amounted to 8,028,800, or over 24 million revolutions for the three engines. Since those days now over three years ago—great improvements have been made in the efficiency, power and reliability of aero engines, which, if reasonably handled, are now among the finest products of human achievement. Another factor which surprised ns was our own mental and physical endurance. It is true that we were weary and somewhat fatigued at the end of the flight; w». were deafened by the roar of the engines; we were cramped and stiff and the monotony and strain had lowered pur vitality, but at no time on the flight did our fatigue ever reach danger point and we were able to carry on for unbelievably long hours and still retain our faculties and keep our wits sharpened. Added to this was the fact that we had a definite objective, a goal to make, and this undoubtedly buoyed us up and kept us going to the bitter end. Pacific Ocean Disadvantages. We learned also that the Pacific has this disadvantage from an airman's point of view—the comparative scarcity of shipping with which he can communicate. During the whole of our.'' flight we sighted but two ships and those on the same night. In the Atlantic there are broad and frequented shipping lanes ,on the route to and from New York, and consequently there is a comprehensive range of weather reports and local information readily available in the Atlantic which is lacking in the Pacific Ocean. . Now that we had made our first longdistance flight and had had time to settle our affairs, have a good rest and overhaul our plans, we b, e g an to look around for fresh worlds to conquer. The Southern Cross had behaved so well that we had infinite confidence in her and felt ready to go anywhere in such a plane. Naturally our own country occurred to us first in which to seek for an objective and as no one had yet made a non-stop flight across the continent we decided that ' this should be our next flight. To us it was a comparatively easy task and it would form also a valuable preliminary canter for the more difficult and dangerous flight which we had in view—namely, a flight across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand and return. Preparing for Tasman Flight. Our American friends, Warner and Lyon, had now returned to their own country and it became necessary to seek a navigator and a wireless operator to take their places. In our quest we were fortunate in meeting with Mr. H. A.Litchfield and Mr. T. H. McWilliams. , For our non-stop flight across Australia we decided to start from the R.A.A.F. depot at Point C°°k, some 20 miles from Melbourne, as Sydney could not offer a long enough runway for the take-off. We received evecp assistance from the Air Force in preparing the aeroplane for the flight across the continent to Perth, a distance of 2090 miles, and on the morning of August 8 we took off without difficulty with a load of 900 gallons,_ which was more than sufficient for the journey we had in view. We flew from Melbourne to Perth, heavy, cold rain being experienced by, night on the way. On the return journey a halt was made at Adelaide. From Adelaide we made a non-stop flight to Sydney direct and landed once mora at R ic ■. aerodrome on August 28 after flying 4390 miles across Australia and back. The flight had served our purpose well. Once again the S6uthern Cross, had proved her worth," and, with the experience gaTned, StchfieW and McWilliams were Sow well equipped for our next venture !°Tfhght wrols the Tasman.Sea to Ne« •Zealand. (To be oontinued .>