FLIER'S MISFORTUNE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21468, 17 April 1933, Page 8

FLIER'S MISFORTUNE

Misfortune has destroyed all prospect that Miss Jean Batten would establish new figures in her solo flight from England to Australia. Compelled by a violent sandstorm to land in the wilds of Baluchistan, Miss Batten was deceived by what appeared a favourable spot for the purpose, and her machine suffered sufficient damage to dispose, this time, of any chance of record-break-ing. It was a mishap of a kind that any pilot might have suffered under much less difficult conditions. Indeed, it may be recalled that while in New Zealand Sir Charles Kingsford Smith experienced trouble of a very similar kind, the Southern Cross being damaged because a landing ground with which he had not familiarised himself proved unsuitable to receive his great aeroplane. This interruption to her journey reflects in no way on Miss Batten's capacity to complete the task she undertook. Her time up to the moment when misfortune overtook her suggested that her chances of establishing a new record for a woman flying solo were excellent. This in an aga of record-making and record-breaking. The long air journey from England to Australia has been accepted as a challenge by many fliers, and great exploits have marked the way. Youth has been well represented, and the woman flier has» made her mark in the list of achievements. Miss Batten is not first in the field on the scoro of either age or sex ; but she attempted a feat formidable enough to test the quality of fliers far older in years and experience. She had shown before misfortune overtook her that it was not beyond her capacity, and she is entitled to the sympathy of New Zealand, her native land, because her plans have gone awry.