FLIGHT TO AUSTRALIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22469, 13 July 1936, Page 9

FLIGHT TO AUSTRALIA

LORD SEMPILL'S ATTEMPT RETURN TO ENGLAND i _____ (Received July 12, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. July 11 The well-known British airman. Lord Sempill, left Hanworth aerodrome at 4 p.m. yesterday in a Monospar Croyden monoplane on a flight to Australia, where he said he expected to arrive on Tuesday. The machine reached Vienna, but the flight was abandoned and Lord Sempill left on his return to London at 2.30 a.m. to-day. On his arrival at Hanworth aerodrome he told a representative of the Australian Associated Press that they were ahead of schedule at Vienna, where it was found that the auxiliary petrol supply was working unsatisfactorily. The defect could not be reptified without returning to England and it was unsafe to proceed under such conditions owing to fear of monsoons. It was expected that the defect would be speedily rectified and that the flight would be recommenced on Sunday. An earlier report that an inspection of tlio aeroplane at Vienna had revealed that a wing fabric had cracked was denied by the airman. Lord Sempill said he was not interested in breaking Mr. C. W. A. Scott's Melbourne Centenary air race record of 56 hours. Since he was concerned, however, in the air lines of Australia, he was anxious to test his machine and to see how it behaved under Australian conditions. Lord Sempill was accompanied by Mr. H. Wood, pilot; Mr. P. Gilroy, wireless operator; and Mr. L. Davies, ground engineer.