Dominion Airwoman Leaves Lympne

Otaki Mail, 23 April 1934, Page 2

Dominion Airwoman Leaves Lympne

NOT TRYING FOR RECORD .Received Sunday, 7 p.m. LONDON, April 21. The New Zealand airwoman, Jean Batten, left Lympne for New Zealand at 4.55 in the morning. She was wearing a leather jacket, with a New Zealand flag as a muffler. She carried tihree mascots, including a piece* of lion’s bone. She said it would be silly to try for a record with a four-year-old machine. She had to go home to see Jier father, and flying was the nicest way of doing it. Crashes Just Outside Walls of Rome FUEL EXHAUSTED WHEN AIRWOMAN LOSES WAY. Received Monday, 1.30 a.m. ROME, April 22. MiS3 Batten crashed just outside the walls of Rome. She cut her lip and suffered shock, but was otherwise unhurt. The machine was badly damaged. She lost her way after crossing the French frontier; consequently her fuel was exhausted. When she found herself near Rome at 1 am. to-day she was forced to land in a field near the famous Basilica. She was thrown from the cockpit. Officials in a nearby wireless station extricated her from the wreckage and took her to the Red Cross Hospital, where, interviewed, she declared: “I am very lucky. 1 feel none the worse for my adventure. I am in bed not because I feel unable to get up, but because my clothes are tom and I have nothing else to put on. X do not know wheher the machine is repairable.”