MR ALAN COBHAM

Otago Witness, Issue 3782, 7 September 1926, Page 26

MR ALAN COBHAM

RETURN FLIGHT COMMENCED. ARRIVAL AT ADELAIDE. ADELAIDE, August 30. Mr Alan Cobham has commenced hia return flight to England. He left Melbourne, and arrived at Adelaide after five and a-half hours’ flying, landing on a ground surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements, through which it was practically impossible to break. CONTINUATION OF FLIGHT. ADELAIDE, August 30. Mr Cobham has departed in continual tion of his flight. RETURN FLIGHT IX) ENGLAND. DARWIN, September 5. Captain Cobham left on Saturday morning on his return flight to England. ARRIVAL AT KOEPANG. WELTEVREDEN, September 4. Captain Cobham, who hopped off from Darwin on Saturday morning, has arrived at Koepang. OUTWARD FLIGHT ENDED. REMARKABLE RECEPTION’. SYDNEY, August 20. When Alan Cobham, the ambassador of civil aviation, as the Sydney papers have been styling him, left this city last Sunday morning in continuation of his great flight from England to Melbourne, be little guessed that the impetuous enthusiasm of the huge crowd that waited for him at the Melbourne aerodrome would nearly prove his undoing, and the cause of many casualties. Yet that was so. After spending four days in Sydney, during which he was royally entertained, and he himself created a fine impression upon all with whom he came in contact, Mr Cobham set out from the Mascot aerodrome shortly after 11 o’clock on Sunday morning. It wa3 perfect flying weather, and the king of airmen made a perfect flight southwards* covering the distance of nearly 600 miles in little more than four hours. Shortly before half-past 3 o’clock, the great e Haviland ’plane was hovering over the aerodrome, ready to land. Mr Cobham made two or three circuits of the Victorian capital, and then an amazing sight broke upon his eyes. He was surprised to find that the enclosures surrounding the landing ground were black with people—the crowd was estimated by those in charge of arrangements at between 80,000 and 100,000. Mr Cobham at first refrained from landing immediately, intending to give the vast assemblage a glimpse of the powers of the De Havilland in the air, but then the airman noticed that the crowd was breaking through the barriers erected by the police, and encroaching on the landing space. Mr Cobham decided t/iat he must land at once if he was to do it at all. The crowd was already trickling through to the landing space, and these foolish people set off in a panic-stricken rush when the death-dealing propellor of the aeroplane drew near them, as Mr Cobham taxied across the ground. But immediately the machine came to a standstill the mob rushed frantically towards the official enclosure. Chairs which had been placed for the official reception and wireless apparatus for broadcasting purposes were trampled underfoot. The confusion was made worse by the screaming of women and children. It was impossible to make a passage for Mr Cobham, and after vain attempts he was lifted shoulder high by Air Force men to the accompaniment of a cheer from the struggling crowd, and a way was fought to the reception room. The police were handicapped, as they did not have batons, and they were forced to use their fists. The official party was swept away and scattered. The Lord Mayor was carried far out into the landing ground. One trooper tried to protect the aeroplane, but the fabric was damaged in several places and a strut was fractured. At least 50 people were injured in the scramble, a few seriously enough to be taken to the hospital. Mr Cobham has taken his enthusiastic receptions as a token of the interest Australians are taking in civilisation, bub those who know the Australians better believe that they are the symbols of several of our national characteristics—our native curiosity, our inclination to worship heroes, our hospitality that sometimes borders on the uproarious. But at all events Australians intend them as a mark of appreciation of a sterling feat, though Mr Cobham himself is inclined to regard that feat in a matter-of-fact way as a very ordinary performance that will become as common as the steamer voyages within the next decade or so. After his ’plane has been overhauled at Melbourne Mr Cobham will start on the return journey to England in a speed-breaking effort. In the Australian portion of it, he has slightly altered his original itinerary, and will now first proceed to Adelaide, and thence direct north through Central Australia to Darwin. Undoubtedly the flight has stimulated interest in the Commonwealth aviation circles, and proof of this is a mooted flight bv Australian airmen from Melbourne to London. At present this proposal lias not reached the official stage. Officers of the Civil Aviation Department in Melbourne have freely discussed it. They point out that we have the pien capable of doing it, qs well as machines. They instance the noteworthy flight made by Australian aviators the same dav that Cobham flew from Charleville to Sydney. Leaving Charleville a few minutes before Cobham, Colonel H. C. Brinsmead (Director of Civil Aviation), with Captain Jones (pilot) and Inspector Howard (mechanic) flew to Bourke and thence to Melbourne, a distance of 820 miles, in but little more than Mr Cobham took to reach Sydney, 600 miles.