AVIATORS' ADVENTURES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22046, 28 February 1935, Page 8

AVIATORS' ADVENTURES

LAST IN THE BIG RACE JOURNEY OF 116 DAYS "WE ARE A BIT LATE" [from our own correspondent] MELBOURNE, Feb. 21 Ray Parer and a companion, Mcintosh, since killed in a motor-cycle accident, were competitors for the Australian Government's £IO,OOO prize offered in 1919, for the first flight from England to Australia. They did not win it, but they completed the course in about eight months —with their aeroplane patched up with fencing' wire. Since then Parer has led a variegated life, mainly relying on aviation for a livelihood. He has spent the last five or six years in New Guinea, where he was one of the pioneers of flying over mountains and jungle from the coast to the goldfields. The Centenary air race from London to Melbourne attracted this vagabond of the skies and he started with the other competitors from Mildenhall on October 20. He arrived in Melbourne a few days ago with his companion, G. E. Hemsworth, the last competitors in the race to finish. There was no one to check them in after their flight of 116 days from England, and no one to give them a reception except a few friends and Mr. Hemsworth's mother. "We are a bit late," Parer said as he stepped from the battered Fairy Fox machine in which he and his companion had shared so many misfortunes since leaving Mildenhall. "At any rate, W8 have beaten my previous record by about four months, so that is not so bad. I suppose we dawdled a bit on the way because of engine trouble and some fuss with the Persian Government. But as long as we are not arrested for loitering, it will be all right." Adventures *on the Way Discoloured, torn and. patched, the aeroplane showed unmistakably that it had been tried severely. Trouble first occurred when the machine was halfway across the English Channel, Parer said. He had to decide whether he would return to England or try to land on the French coast. He determined to push on, and managed to descend in a field near the sea. Three more forced landings were made before Paris was reached, and it was three, weeks before they were able to take the air again. Further trouble kept them in Pisa, Italy, for 10 days, and at Athens for six weeks. . Complications occurred at Bagdad, where the fliers were informed by the Persian Consul that the permits granted to air race competitors to fly over Persia were no longer of any use. The British registration sign on the machine, G-ACXO, was anathema to the Persian Consul, who strangely enough was even more hostile when he was told that the two fliers were not English but Australian. It took a fortnight of diplomacy to gain permission io cross Persia, which was apparently determined to allow no one but the Dutch and German mail services to fly over its territory. From Bagdad ' progress was faster, although there was a stop of 10 days at Karachi because of further engine trouble. Singapore was most hospitable. Monkeys' Curiosity With the memory of the adventures of the Dutch fliers still fresh, Batavia gave the Fairy Fox a great welcome. The curiosity in Ranibang was shared by hundreds of monkeys, which descended on the Ifv.ding ground in hordes and joined in the farewell, making it almost impossible to take off. Hemsworth stepped from the aeroplane in a pair of shorts and a leather jacket, and Mr. Parer in a pair of old trousers and an open shirt. They will spend about a week in Melbourne, and • will then fly to New Guinea, where they will engage in commercial flying and gold prospecting.