AUSTRALIA TO CROYDON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22422, 17 November 1934, Page 24

AUSTRALIA TO CROYDON

AUSTRALIAN’S FINE FLIGHT (From 008 UWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, October 5. Mr James Melrose, aged 20, 17 months’ flying experience, imperturbable, tireless, skilful pilot, land fine navigator, takes his place among the world’s great long-dis-tance aviators. ;Ae arrived at Croydon aerodrome early in the morning four days ago, piloting his Puss Moth monoplane to a perfect landing eight days nine. hours after leaving Port Darwin, Australia, surpassing the previous fastest journey over the route—achieved by Bernard Kubin and Ken Waller a few weeks ago—by three hours and J. A. Mollison’s official record by no fewer than 13. It was his second important flighty Last month he tested the endurance of himself and of his machine by flying round the coast of Australia, more than 8000 miles in length, in the new record time of five days eleven hours. On that. journey he averaged 1250 miles’ flying in every 24 hours. His average on the longer andmore difficult flight to England was about 1200 miles a day. Far from being exhausted, this amazing young man actually reserved his longest spell in the air for the last full - day of his journey, covering 1800 miles between Cyprus and Lyons before stopping for a brief rest. The next morning he was away long before dawn, .and soon after 7 o’clock he landed at Croydon, where he staggered a; Customs official by announcing, in reply to the usual question, that he had just arrived from Australia. The young aviator’s achievement and his unaffected modesty have most favourably impressed English flyers. 'He is likely to pilot a Leopard monoplane in the England-Australia races this month; though his . machine will be too slow to compete with the faster of the “speed” entrants, his recent achievements . must rank him a formidable competitor in the handicap event. FEAT OP NAVIGATION. He disclaimed adventures along the route. He had just kept on, he said. He “ found places just about where I calculated them to be ” —a magnificent understatement of very fine navigation. The only “incident” of the journey was to find Alor Star aerodrome, Malay States, under about two feet of water. “It was like a flying boat landing,” he commented. “I had the cabin windows open and the water splashed in.” For the rest the flight was comfortable. Mr Melrose left Darwin at 6.30 a.m. on September 20, and spent the night at Sourabaya, after flying 1400 miles. He was off again at 5.30 a.m. the next day, called at Batavia, and reached Singapore in the early afternoon. He spent nearly 18 hours in Singapore, and set off at 6 p.m. on September 22. After the “flying boat ” landing at Alor Star, he flew on to Victoria Point that day. His next day was again relatively short, ending at Calcutta. Thence onward, he made for England in real earnest, covering enormous distances in every stage, flying largely by night, and resting very little. September 24 saw him away from Calcutta at 2.5 a.m., and at Karachi —1400 miles on — the same evening. The following morning he was again away at about 2 a.m., to reach Basra —1300 miles—-by 3.10 p.m. On September 26 he reached Cyprus. On September 27 he flew, in three stages. 1800 miles from Cyprus to Lyons. At 2.45 a.m. the next morning he took .off from Lyons, landing at Croydon at 7 a.m.,'less than four days out from Calcutta. He was not tired, and after putting his machine in the died he went into the aerodrome hotel for an enormous meal of bacon and eggß ‘ THE MACHINE, His aeroplane is a standard Puss Moth monoplane fitted with an extra tank which brings the fuel capacity up to 73 gallons, enough for a flight in still-air of approximately 1100 miles. Neither the aircraft nor the 120 h.p. Gipsy MI engine gave any trouble; Mr Melrose confessed that he had not always done the routine maintenance jobs, so smootniy was the engine running. His machine cruises about 20 miles an hour faster than the Gipsy Moth flown by Mr Mollison on his record journey, and he did not spend nearly so much time in the air. On the other hand, it is some 10 miles an hour slower than the Leopard Moth, and his flight compares worthily, therefore, with the recent achievement ot Rubin and Waller. . Air travel is obviously not expensive, apart from th e purchase of fuel and ml, which Mr Melrose 1 estimates to have cost him not quite £I.OO. He left Darwin with 10 £1 notes m his pocket, and still had three of them left when he landed at Croydon..