SIR ALAN COBHAM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20289, 23 December 1927, Page 11

SIR ALAN COBHAM.

AERIAL SURVEY OF SOUTH AFRICA. SIR CHARLES WAKEFIELD’S GENEROSITY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 19. Sir Alan Cobham, with Lady Cobham as “ a working member of the crew,” left the Medway at Rochester on November 17 on the first stage of his 20,000 miles aerial survey of Africa. Thousands of Londoners along the Embankment about 2 p.m. stopped to see the giant machine as it reared its way to Reading and Southampton. Sir Alan waved his hand from th_ cockpit in response to the cheers. Before starting Sir Alan said his mascot was a miniature of a spider, given him by a little Rochester girl. Prior to departure, there was a farewell luncheon in the old Bull Inn at Rochester, with Sir Charles Wakefield In the chair and the Mayor of Rochester on his right. Sir Alan and Lady Cobham were naturally the guests of honour. _ Sir Alan made a brisk and business-like little speech. “ I am rather flustered,” he said, “ with all the speech-ihaking I have had to do in the last few days. It is not our custom to speak before doing anything.” AN UNCOMMON MASCOT. He stated that he had received the present of a spider as a mascot from a little Rochester girl. The child declared she sent the spider for luck because the spider never falls, because it makes webs like Sir Alan hopes to make by his air journeys in Africa, and because she was a direct descendant of Robert Bruce. Giving some interesting facts about the trip, Sir Alan said the amount of power developed would be sufficient to lift the steamship Majestic one and a*half times at. high ae Mount Snowden. The distance flown would be 20,000 miles, flying time would be 250 hours, the amount of petrol used would be 100,000 pounds weight, the total number of magnetic sparks would be 684 millions, the total distance that the pistons of the engine would travel would be 160,200 miles. If it were found possible to open up air services between Capetown and the Gold Coast, one of their regular loads would be a ton of gold a day! Sir Charles Wakefield declared that the characteristic of Sir Alan Cobham’s aerial adventures was that they were as practical as they were heroic. . LADY COBHAM'S “REST JURE." “.Are you nervousl ’* Lady Cobban, was asked. “ Not at all, she replied. “Do you expect to find the journey tiring? ” “ I expect it to be a rest cure. She is taking seven dresses with her as well as a manicure set. She ha« signed on in formal manner, find will take her. full share in the routine duties of the journe. Everyone went to the landing stage in cars and charabancs to see 'he flying boat lying in the river before she took off. One of the last pieces of ceremony was that the flag was hoisted from the castle flagstaff, an honour which places Sir Alan Cobham’s departure on something like the same level as a royal arrival. BON VOYAGEAt 1.20 the two propellers wen ticking quietly over, and the launches and rowing boats were fussing around. At 1.55 there came a tremendous .oar as of some great organ note, clear and firm, showing that the engines were running perfectly. A second or two later the flying boat began to cut across the vatei. in about 300 yards or 400 yards had risen into the air. In another minute it was circling easily and confidently over the town before setting out for London vnd Southampton. The occupants of the machine number six. Besides Sir Alan and Lady Cod ham there are Captain il. V. Warral! (assistant nilot and navigator), Messn Green and Conway (engineers), and i Bonnet (kinematographer,. This is the first Empire flight Sir Alan has planned with a flying boat. The itinerary is Southampton.—Bordeaux (770 miles), Marseilles (1050), Malta (1605), Benghazi (2225), Ahoukir (3050), Luxor (3410), Wady Haifa (3740), Khartum (4560), Kisuma (5940), Kigoma (6610), Beira (7a00), Durban (8760), Capetown (9650). On the return journey the West Coast of Africa will be followed via Benguella, Lagos, Freetown, Bathurst, and Gibraltar. THE MACHINE. The machine is a Short Singapore, allmetal flying-boat, fitted with two Condor engines, each of 700 h.p. It is a big boat, but not the biggest, there being two British types with 50 per cent, more power. The Singapore was designed for service purposes, but the makers are now building a similar machine for commercial use, with accommodation for 15 passengers. The machine which Sir Alan is using on this flight, a flight made possible by the generosity of Sir Charlei Wakefield, is equipped for a long absence from home. It has four sleeping bunks, and apparatus for cooking. Lady Cobham will have a typewriter, and she will include in her duties the clerical work of the expedition. In addition, the Singapore can carry plenty of fuel for the longest stages intended, and will have no difficulty in taking-off from high altitude lakes in Africa, one of which is 4000 ft above eea level, where, owing to the decreased density of the air greater speed on the water must be attained in order to get lift, or, in the alternative, a lighter load must be carried. The reconnaissance of the Calro-Cap* route from the point of view of regular services by flying boat, and of the West Coast, hitherto almost entirely new country for aircraft, is the main object in view, and the West Coast route, with eastwards branches from Lobito Bay and Waifisch Bay to Tanganyika and Rhodesian Territory is perhaps the most interesting of the expedition s tasks. In this connection the aerial /ey now being carried out in Northern Rhodesia and over the country between Livingstone and Lobito Bay by the Aircraft Operating Company for the special purpose of studying possible railway and -iver transport developments, shows that the aeroplane is beginning to play an important part in Africa. CIVIC GREETINGS. Sir Alan Cobham, at the nstance if the British Empire League, has undertaken during his flight to convey lettn • containing greetings from the Lord Mayor of London to the Lord Mayor of Capetown; the Lord Mayor of Newcastle-oa-Tyne to the Mayor of Newcastle, Natal; and the Mayor of Salisbury, Wiltshire, the Mayor of Salisbury, Rhodesia.