AVIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17631, 22 May 1919, Page 5

AVIATION

TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT.

HAWKER'S VOYAGE.

ADMIRALTY'S ARRANGE-

MENTS.

Prosa Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

LONDON, May 20. Dr Macnamara, Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, stated in the House of Commons that after Hawker had started all the available ships on the Irish coastwere ordered to sea by wireless. Presumably it was a French wireless station which picked up tho message in- fragmentary form, misconstrued it, and retransmitted it, stating that Hawker had fallen into the sea. Castletown station picked up the message and sent it to Queenstown. That was probably the explanation of- the false news.

GALE IN THE ATLANTIC.

HOPE ABANDONED,

LONDON, May 20. All hope of finding „ Hawker has been abandoned. There is a gale in the Atlantic.

[Harry Hawker was born in Victoria in 18SJ0, his father being a dairy farmer at Cape Clear, near Ballarat. In 1911 ho went to England, whore he worked in several motor factories, finishing up at tho Sopwith works, in which he eventually secured an interest. During the war ho was the chiet test pilot for the Sopwith machines. Just prior to the war ho gave flying exhibitions in Australia, and ho had previously distinguished himself in the contest for the Daily Mail prizo for a seaplane flight round the British Isles.]

LIEUTENANT PICKLES SANGUINE.

REFUSES TO ABANDON HOPE.

LONDON, May 20. Lieutenant Pickles (an Australian aviator, who recently flew through the Tower bridge over the Thames) refuses to abandon hope, and thinks that Hawker may have been picked up by a vessel not fitted with wireless, or that he may be afloat in his own machine's lifeboat. Lieutenant Pickles attributes Hawker's mishap to the exhaustion ,of his petrol supply owing to the head winds encountered during the last 600 miles. The fact that Hawker started in unfavourable weather proves that he was out, not for the prize, but to give Britain the honour of the first Atlantic crossing.

HAWKER'S HOPES,

GOOD WEATHER WITH FULL MOON

NEW YORK, May 20. The New York Times St. John's correspondent states that it was the presence of the American seaplanes at Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, which strengthened Hawker in his determination to attempt the transatlantic flight. He hoped the full moon would bring favourable weather.

PROPOSED. PREPARATORY FLIGHT.

AMERICAN NAVAL DIRIGIBLE.

NEW YORK, May 13. ' It is officially announced that a United States naval dirigible is ready to start a flight from New York to Newfoundland in the first favourable weather. Upon the success of this undertaking depend the plans for a transatlantic flight to England via the Azores. °

FROM AZORES TO LISBON. LONDON, May 20. The American seaplane N.C. 4 left the Azores for Lisbon at 12.40 "p.m., Greenwich time.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

STILL NO. NEWS,

KEEN SYMPATHETIC SPECULATION.

LONDON, May 20. (Received May 21, at 5.5 p.m.) The Admiralty "at 9 p.m. stated that there is no news regarding Hawker, and gives an official denial to the report that Hawker reached -within a hundred miles of Ireland. The report has aroused the keenest sympathetic speculation respecting his actual fate. It is feared that Hawker cannot have survived. He possibly descended in ilhe mid-Atlantic, and his lowpowered wireless attachment .was probably insufficient to call anv ship.—A and N.Z. Cable. A

THE OFFICIAL VIEW.

NO HOPE OF RECOVERY.

WARNING TO OTHER COMPETITORS

LONDON, May 20 (0.55 p.m.) (Received May 21, at 8 p.m.) An official communique points out that the chances of aiding Hawker are extremely remote, owing to. the area which the destroyers must scour. The communique adds: Even if it had been otherwise desirable to assist an enterpriso which in no sense was under Government control, it would have been impossible to patrol the Atlantic, owing to the navy's heavy obligations. The same remark applies to future flights. The Government warns other competitors that it will be impossible for the navy to patrol the Atlantic course.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO ENGLAND VIA EGYPT. (Delayed in Transmission ) LONDON, May 13. Lieutenant-colonel Wilson flew from Mosul (on the banks of the Tigris) to England, via Cairo, in seven davs A and N.Z. Cable. * "

OCEAN AIRSHIPS.

PREPARING BRITISH GIANTS FOR FLIGHT ACROSS.

It is probable (the Daily Mail , says) that both R63 and R6A, the largest airships in the world, will attempt the Atlantic It they do it is extremely likely that R53 mil attempt a southern and Ho 4 a northern route.

Any decision the authorities may have como to on the question of the flight has not been communicated to the airship builders, but Messrs Armstrong, Wliitvoxth and Co., who built R33, havo received orders to modify the- equipment of the ship in such a way as to make a flg-ht across the Atlantic possible.

Six extra petrol tanks are boirur fitted to bring- the total fuel capacity to jiist over 20 tons. Hie crew space in the corridor is boing extended to give amplo sleeping room. Special messing arrangements, extra cooking appliances, and extra drinking tanks are being installed. The outer cover is beinospecially waterproofed and the rudder ana elevator controls stiffened as precautions against bad weather.

A long-range wireless set is being installed and duplicate navigating instruments will be carried. These are the only fittings of importance required apart from the usual equipment of the ship, No unnecessary risks are to bo taken with the ships, which are valued approximately at £250,000 each. If the flight is attempted it would be done in a business-like, systematic way, and undertaken only when test Qights have proved that the crossing is a comparatively simple matter should ordinary conditions bo met with.

Each ship will make several preliminary trial flights over the Atlantic, so that by the time the ships attempt tho crossing weather conditions will have been tested and the. ventiu-o reduced to practically a. certainty, •