CONSTANTINOPLE IN 14 HOURS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21361, 15 June 1931, Page 9

CONSTANTINOPLE IN 14 HOURS

AN HISTORIC FLIGHT V "SAW ASIA TO-DAY.” * ' 1 ■;" ’ 1 , \( : (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 7. ! Though disappointed of a triumphant flight to Australia, Captain T. Neville Stack, A.F.C., and his companion. Mr J. 11. Chaplin, have made flying history, and; their enforced Temporary abandonment of, the project to fly to Australia and back inthree weeks should not be pejpnitted tot dim the lustre of two record flights be-, tween London and Constantinople. t The feat of , reaching Constantinople _ * from England in one day had never before' been accomplished; the return flight to',. London was even a little better in pointy of time and distance flown. At 4.22 a.m., on Saturday the airmen set forth from, Lympne aerodrome in a fast Vickers two-, seater byplane deriving power from * 550; h.p. Napier “Lion” engine. They wereready to fly all of every day in an attemptJ to get to Port Darwin and back inside 21* days, thus demonstrating in no uncertain; manner how a high-speed mail service! might be operated half round the world.- . In the tankg were 265 gallons of fuel,.' sufficient for a non-stop flight of 10 hours, cruising at 135 miles an hour. Top speed of the plane is more than 150 m.p.h., and! it is therefore far the swiftest aeroplane; yet to attempt the Australia journey. In] a special compartment was a email load, including messages and documents to; deliver on behalf of the London Chamber.', 1 of Commerce at various points along the route. ' ■ .V f v - , vr\ v A NIGHT LANDING. ‘ Stack’s itinerary provided for the air--men to reach Vienna in the first day of J the outward flight. Actually the plane* descended there at 11 a.m. Forty, minutes'* halt, while the machine was refueled, and they were off again to fly 800 miles toConstantinople, where they made a perfect landing at 9 n.m. (local time), two hours ■ after nightfall. The journey of 1660 miles! from Lympne had occupied 14 hours actual flying, an average speed over the ground of llff m.p.h. Head winds were met withover much''of the Vienna-Constantinople 1 stage. Signs of irregular carburation had been notjeed during the day and, after examination and discussion, Stack thought 1 best to return immediately to. England to ’ get the • trouble rectified in the works. • Experts are busy looking carefully over, ‘ the petrol installation; it is thought pro- 1 bable that dirt may have found its way; into the pipes leading to the and thus caused irregular flow to thecylinders.

“WE SAW ASIA—” , The return flight wag as splendid as the ’ outward trip. The biplane rose from the aerodrome at Constantinople as dawn was breaking, and just before 8 p.m. taxied to a stop outside the .hangars at the Heston aerodrome, near London, having covered more than 1700 miles in 14} hours. One intermediate halt was made, at Belgrade, for oil and fuel. Stack andChaplin were able to say to friends in London in the evening “We saw Asia-to-day! ” I4S No man in history has previously been able to do that. This is highspeed flying with a vengeance, and comes, as an emphasis to the fine flight accomplished a few days ago by the same aeroplane and pilots in getting from London to Berlin and back between dawn and, dusk of the same day. Evidently an air mail service bringing Turkey and the Balkan States within one day of England is feasible, while continuance of the same rata of travel all along the line means Australia in a week! A EEAL " BIED-MAN.”

Captain Stack made the first light aero- 1 plane flight to India five years ago. He, is one of those airmen who seem to possess a sixth sense, resembling the homing instinct of the birds, which has given rise to the expression that “ eo-and-so. has k compass in his head.” In other words, he is a magnificent cross-country pilot, and/ with little apparent preliminary calculation and fuss, he contrives most uncannily to arrive'exactly at the point’intended without deviating perceptibly from a straight lino except where the configuration of the ground or bad visibility may oblige him to do go. This ability was wonderfully shown during Ihe light plane journey to India, when, alter flying 230' miles across the Mediterranean, most of the way in low cloud and mist, Stack' passed over the North African coast within a few yards of the exact spot he had indicated on the map before leaving. Malta. Few of the world’s airmen are equally well fitted for the task he has set himself of showing how the air mail services may be improved and accelerated. 4 Mr Chaplin is a young and keen ownerpilot of an Avro Avian light plane, who-, learned to fly last year. He has 135 hours’ flying on his log book, and is studying hard for his license as navigator and ground engineer.