CAPE TO LONDON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20450, 3 July 1928, Page 15

CAPE TO LONDON.

LADY HEATH’S SOLITARY FLIGHT. DRESSED AS THOUGH IN LONDON A TRYING EXPERIENCE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 19. Lady Heath had a flattering and welldeserved reception when she landed at Croydon after her 10,CO0-mile solo flight from the Capo. She had left Paris at throe in the afternoon, and she put a characteristic finishing touch to her wonderful exploit when she “ threw a loop ” over Croydon before gliding down and malting a perfect sideslip landing. It was equally characteristic of her that instead of being muffled in ugly oilstained flying clothes, she stepped front her machine wearing a chic brown sports ensemble, a fur coat, and small black hat and high-heeled patent leather shoes. Her machine was immediately surrounded by a cheering crowd, and bouquets of roses and carnations were given to her. It was an appreciable time before her husband, Sir James Heath, the ironmaster, was able to greet her. Lady Heath said that she had flown 165 hours in all, including a large amount of passenger-carrying in South Africa, One of the most trying experiences of her flight was an attack of sunstrike while on her way to Bulawayo. She succeeded in landing before losing consciousness. She recovered five hours later, and found five natives bathing her forehead with milk. SHOT AT BY AN ARAB. She pointed to her clothes. “ I have flown like this all the time,’’ she said. “ You don’t need leather breeches or leather coats nowadays. The little machines are as comfortable as a small ear, and give just as much shelter. All through my long journey I dre; sed myself as though *T was in London. 1 kept my face powdered. If the powdi r blew off I took out niv morror and put some more on.” She said she believed that an Arab shot at her machine while she was on the way to Tunis, as a bullet hole was found in one wing after she landed, though she did not hear anything. She had often read a book when flying at a good healght. On the way to Cairo, where an official reception had been prepared for her. she decided to put on a pair of silk stockings. “ I was able to get the stockings out of the locker and put them on without difficulty,” she said. Lady Heath’s machine, an Avro-Avian, fitted with a 30 horse-power Cirrus engine, is similar to the one in which Mr Bert Hinkler made his flight to Australia. It is reported (hat Lady Heath is either to flv back to the Cape or to fly to Australia, thus rivalling Hinkler’s achievement. Her preference is for a flight to Australia. A MAGNIFICENT RECORD. In paying its tribute to the enterprising aviator, the Daily Telegraph comments: “ With a commendable absence of fuss this lady has advanced the cause of aviation considerably by proving that it is possible for a woman to fly alone over immense tracts of the earth’s surface and to return home not only safe but making as little of it as if it were a train Journey to Bournemouth. She was escorted across the Sudan by Lieutenant Bentley, as solo flying is forbidden over that area, and had to appeal to Signor Mussolini for a seaplane — which incidentally got lost in a storm for a time —to accompany her before she could secure leave to fly across the Mediterranean, hut otherwise her amazing journey was accomplished j alone. “In an age which is remarkable for the brave endeavour and audacity of many women. Lady Heath’s exploit takes precedence of any other yet aceom- | plished. From the day when she was ; champion woman high jumper aiid jave--1 in-thrower till to-day she has never ‘ rested on her laurels. She was the I first woman to lop the loop in the air, ; and the first to obtain an Air Ministry | certificate to carry passengers. As re- I cently as last October she flew to a i height of 19,000 ft in an attempt to ’ claim the air height record, and her < latest achievement gives her the right , to claim to be the first woman to fly through Africa, the first person to fly ; a light aeroplane from the Cape to Cairo, and the first to undertake the trip solo, Her’s is a magnificent record, but the feature which stands out in the imagination of most of us is her intrepidity in traversing an area at once so wild and desolate that, as Mr Frederick Guest said, the chances of rescue after a forced landing would be only less hopeless than a forced landing in the Atlantic.”