THE TRANS-TASMAN FLIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3855, 31 January 1928, Page 26

THE TRANS-TASMAN FLIGHT.

CAPTAIN MOODY'S FLIGHT. A BREACH OF REGULATIONS. MELBOURNE, January 23. Both.Mr Bruce and the Attorney-general (Mr J. G. Latham) have stated that Captain Moody's proposed transtasrpan. flight will. be a breach of regulations, and that ■ the Government has power to prevent it. ’Capita in Moody and Jolley will not be able to see Mr Bruce, as he will be absent from. office all the' week any reque’t for exemption from the regulations cannot be dealt with for some time, because Cabinet does not meet again till the middle- , of. February. MR Hi E. PRATTEN’S VIEWS. SYDNEY, January 23. Mr H. E Pratten (Minister for Trade and Customs) states that although permission to make the proposed flight to New Zealand does not rest with his department he thinks that there is a good deal of J * stunihg ” connected with such hare-brained flight proposals, and it is .unlikely, in view of the many tragedies that have occurred in the past 12 months, that the Government will be a party to giving encouragement to further adventures of that kind. . *. MACHINE NOT SUITABLE. MELBOURNE, January 24. In pursuance of their intention to place before the Federal authorities their plans tor a flight from Australia to New Zealand, Captain Moody and Mr Jolley interviewed Mr Brinsmead. who later made a statement that the attention of the Ministry towards the proposed night had already been clearly expressed " I have indicated to" Captain Moody and Mr Jol’ey that no departmental facilities will be placed at the disposal of any person who proposes to organise a long oversea flight in an aeroplane designed specifically for land ying. Knowing that the particular machines which Captain Moody and Mr' J dley propose to use is intended for this I mpose, the authorities will not recognise ’ L f in any manner whatsoever, and the use of Government aerodromes for the proposed flight will be refused.” P

COMMONWEALTH REGULATIONS. , ' .MELBOURNE, January 24. Although rhe Commonwealth Government has to aid Captain Moody and Mr Jolley, the Government has no power to stop the flight. Limited bv the constitution, it has only power to deal with inter-state and foreign u tters connected with flying, and even these regulations arc indefinite. Major de Haviland, referring to the cablegram to Mr Philip Bailey, of Hamilton, said it was his principle not to supply machines which he thought were ■ not absolutely safe for the work they had to do. What was the good of. crossing ~thv Tasman? Anyone knew tha' an . aeroplane could cross the Tasman with a certain amount of luck, but that would not prove anything from an aviation point of view. From the'commercial aspect-it would be necessary to use a big n achine, which would prove costly. The cable referred to by Major de Haviland reads : —Letter just received. Regret ■ cannot recommend D.H.9 owing to excessive risk of Tasman, flight with any singleengined, machine. Thanks for ‘ inquiry. .Am writing. THE GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE. BRISBANE, January 24. The Minister of Defence, refer ing to the proposed .flight by Captain Moody, said that the Government’s attitude was unchanged. The Government could net s..jietion the flight unless the c< nditions considered essential by expc t advisers wore complied with, and it would not provide any facilities. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S VIEW. OFFICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT CANBERRA, January 25. Mr Bruce, in an official pronouncement on the Government’s attitude towards oversea flights, stated that he would remind those 'desirous of organising illadvised attempts that unles s the machine and the crew were considered by the Defence Department to be such as to ensure a reasonable prospect of success, then all possible action would be taken to prevent the undertaking, and all the powers vested in the Federal Government would ne invoked to penalise an unauthorised flight. - On the o ther hand, if the Government' was. satisfied that the machine was suitable and all the other conditions and regulations were complied with, the Government was prepared to afford encouragement and reasonable assistance to the en terprise. AN “ADVERTISING” SCHEMEt THE MOODY-GOLDBERG VENTURE. (From Our Own "Correspondent.) _ SYDNEY. January 20. “ Undeterred by the tragic fate that has overtaken Captain Hood and lieutenant Moncrieff, with whose families the greatest sympathy i s fdt throughout Australia, another attemnt to fly across the. Tasman U already projected.

yVilhin a fortnight, so it. is understood:, Captain P. H. Moody, the Queensland air man, accompanied by Mr Hoard Jolly as observer,, will attempt the flight in a .Ryan' monoplane. , It will be made undei the auspices of the Goldberg Advertising Agency, and the promoters state that\tfie .object is purely commercial—-it "Will be primarily a flight, to advertise Australian products and Australian-made goods “ Australian business is involved,” says Mr Goldberg, “and we wish to'boost e’er tain lines in New Ze'a’and. Firms are ad vertising" on the wings and body' of the machine in various colours. Samples of produce will Tre carried, and I wish to "emphasise that the machine will fly back to Australia from New Zealand. All pre cautions against failure will be taken.” Captain Moody flew a Ryan monoplane when he was in .America, and therefpre is no stranger to the machine. “ But I am not going to be over-confident, and as a preliminary I will fly, as a test, for not less than. 35 hours in the ’plane, which will be .assembled early next week.' Of that time I propose to spend at least 17 hours in the air without alighting.’-’ Cap tain Moody, who arrived in Sydney bv motor car from Charleville, Queensland, on Tuesday, added that he would not leave the pilot’s seat during the 1360 miles' flight to New Zealand. Mr ' Jolly, who will go on the 'plane as observer and radio man. is at present making a close study of wireless, and for the last three months he has been practis ing Morse telegraphy. Prominent Sydnev business men are interesting themselves in the venture. Air-craftsman Ward, the Point Cook mechanic, will precede the airmen to New Zealand, after he has as sembled the engine. He will adjust it in New Zealand for the return journey. Ihe Sydney Morning Herald publishes an interview with Mr W. J. Warneford, an ex-officer of the 3rd Australian Flying Squadron, who, with Mr Nigel Love, made some preparations for a transtasman flight nearly five years ago. “In looking up the details and advice given by the meteorological officer of New Zealand,Mr D. C. Bates,” he says, “I find that he stated that it would be to our advantage to fly from Wellington to Sydney rather than from Sydney to Wellington, keeping to the north of Lord Howe Island, to give us the benefit of the trade winds. ... . [ d > not think that the flight was attended with all the safety factors that were possible. In the first instance, in flying east th e daylight factor was decreased. While everything was in the aviators’ favour, ac cording to the best meteorological data available, the regular wind blowing from the south-east must be borne in mind. In flying from New Zealand to Australia there would b e the benefit of flying from east to west, during the longest' period of the sun,and, moreover, the aviators would have a larger tract of land in front of them on arrival off the Australian, coast, jh’ch would be of value in the cas e of a«v drift. A flight from New Zealand to Australia would also have the; advantage of taking the aviators near to Lord Howe Island.”

My Warneford a’so expressed the opinion that the machine did not have a long enough test before setting out on the Jong flight. PRIME MINISTER’S ATTITUDE. J he Prime Minister (Mr Bruce) stated on Wednesday that, although the Federal Government had had no official notification of the new proposal to fly to New Zealand, it was strongly opposed to long Hights across the water unless an amphi bian br seaplane, with proper equipment for sea living, were used. H e pointed out that there was a regulation prohibit ,n £ of ,and machines more, than 50 nines out to sea unless they were fitted with floats— and Captain Moody does not propose to have the monoplane fatted with floats. “ A RISKY JOURNEY.”

Die Sydney Sun, commenting editorially upon the Hood-Moncrieff flight, salt’s: ” those who know motor engines "know the risks of a journey occupying 14 or 15 hours with the engine at full speed. Even if th e engine does not fail—at least an even chance—there is the risk of adverse winds or storms. There is the enormous leeway or di.it, which one airman declares °" 4o S °. vn , ex P er ' ence > may be as much a s 40 miles m 100. ' The general opinion is that the two lost airmen started in a flush of very -ill-prepared for sinh a journey, Their machine had under gone no prolonged tests, they were not navigators, tney were not even able to use them wireless intelligibly, the aero Plane had no chance of floating if forced ilown and was so small that if the pilot tired th e second man could not pass him in the cockpit to take the stick. There was no food carried, and barely enough fuel to meet ony unforeseen delay. It is to be hoped, not on] v for th e sake of the airmen themselves, but for the sake of aviation, the cause of which is only m .fi trai ? ,c occurrences like this, hat the Commonwealth Government will which ""in ?! sa, - ,c . t i onin « a »y attempt in the opinffin of its aviation experts, does not appear to have at least the chances in its favour.” POSED AS CAPTAIN HOOD’S ' BROTHER. It is difficult to understand th e psychology of a young man who, just after the ® ye . re , lost, put up at in Svd D S° and 0 ”® °- the "J? ?t fashi °nable m bvdney and posing as Captain Hood’s inc hi? hi 3 w W dayS * ater PayhrnLi r ’ He - reP eate d it at another otel where suspicions were aroused and wLn ‘t ,H, r d ’ y - Thj ‘ s yoil "g nian X on Tuesday sentenced to three nibnths’ y nl V e,, ‘’ >B, said to be a well-known New Zealand criminal. THE MISSING AIRMEN.

SEARCHERS UNSUCCESSFUL. ? ■ WELLINGTON, January 23. The Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department has received the following message from the. postmaster at

Featherston The searchers, Abbott and Houghton, returned on. Sunday. They state that there was no trace of the niiss'Z: ing airmen-.” ■ .

FUND OPENED IN GISBORNE. .. , .GISBORNE, January 23. The Mayor of Gisborne has opened a relief fund in connection with the transtasman flight. A REPORT FROM TASMANIA. CRASH HEARD ON ISLAND. , . HOBART. January 23. there is a possibility that Lieutenant . loncneff and .Captain Hood so far . deviated from their course as to crash on blinders Island, a sparsely-populated island off the north-west corner of Tasmania, extending 45 miles in a northsouth direction. A report states that information was received that the hum of an aeroplane engine was heard on January - ’ and ater a distinct crash waS heard ,n direction of 'the midlands. A search party ha s been scouring the country without success. Coleman, secretary of the Air Board, states that it is inconceivable that the aviators could have got so far out of i'ntL COUrSe '- N ° a,r forCe ma ehines were dale mXS. 0 ' F ' i " de '* W »"<> “ >"« FLINDERS ISLAND REPORT. ™ - HOBART, January 2G? c _ Flinders Island report concerning the missing aviators is amplified further by the report of the police officer in charge of the island. He states that three men said that'they heard the unmistakable hum of an aeroplane, ' but could not sec the machine. A Tew minutes later they heard a crash, and one of them, who had been in France with the-Expeditionary Force, said: “If that is a 'plane she has fallen. I havd heard them crash like that in France.” ' ' \\ hen it was known that the airmen were missing a search was instituted, but no traces ivere found. There is a growing feeling that the machine crashed in the low-lying lagoon country to the east of the Darlin" range, which for many miles, and is totally uninhabited. Search parties are being organised.

ASSISTANCE FOR THE WIDOWS. WELLINGTON, January 27. The Mayor of Wellington (Mr Troup) again appeals to-day for support of a Dominion-wide fund for. the widows of the lost airmen. A street day will be held in Wellington, probably next week. The mayoral fund in Wellington nowstands at £4lB Ils. ROYAL COMMISSION DESIRED. INVESTIGATION INTO ARRANGEMENTS. WELLINGTON, , January 24. A cablegram has been received from Melbourne stating that the Argus, in an editorial, urges the appointment of a Royal Commission, representing Australia -New Zealand, to investigate the flight of the missing aviators. Lieutenant Moncrieff and Captain Hood. RELIEF FUND IN WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, January 24. To-night a representative public meeting in the Council Chambers authorised the Mayor (Mr ■ G. A. Troup) to open a tund to provide for the dependants of Captain Hood and Lieutenant Moncrieff, who met an unknown fate when attempting to fly across the Tasman Sea from Sydney to Wellington a fortnight ago. The Mayor., Sir Harold Beauchamp, and Mr P, Blundell were appointed tiustees. TWO GALLANT MEN. AUSTRALIA’S GRIEF. (From Oub Own Correspondent ) ■ SYDNEY, January 13. New South Wales, as the jumping-oil place of the flight, has shared with New Zealand a very genuine feeling of ;orrow at the fate . which . befell Lieutenant Moncrieff and Captain Hood. That sorrow is felt in art especially sensitive way by those who bade the two gallant men Godspeed at Richmond, and saw them disappear with stout hearts and smiling faces, into the black wall of thick D’st which hung like a ghostly pall over ‘lie landscane and blotted them complex itv out after they had gone only 30yds oi 4Oyds along the ground before- 'rising. them, in contrast with the gloomy low-lying mist; were a big, friendly moon and a soft, velvety, grey sky brilliant with stars.. Thus they set out, like other valiant figures who have risked their splendid lives right down the centuries, on a magnificently audacious adventure. The breezy, volatile, boyishlooking Monciieff, with the -eyes of youth, with curly hair that would have been the envy of the matinee idol, and with a face that seemed moulded for laughter, was totally unlike the more elderly Hood in temperament. About the latter was a reserve which suggested that he was tfie more serious of the two men, but with it there was quiet charin of manner which made him no less popular in Sydney than the breezy Moncrieff. They typified, in resplendent form, the true knightly chivalry of modern adventure. To get safely away from the ground at Richmond and into the aw, appeared to be one of Moncrieff’s chief anxieties. Like Captain Hood; and,* in fact, all those at Richmond, he, was quietly confident of his ability toi bi*<>ss the Tasman.'■ The general opinion _ was that,-as long "aS tjie engine and, compass -played;'-their- parts,'”-they would' pull through. With one of the Air Force officers, Moncrieff .peered into the thick mist. He was anxious to know

the safest find, best course out before Hsing. ‘ Take this course,” said the officer, pointing in a certain direction. Right-ho, said Moncrieff. He seemed more satisfied, especially, as’ he could not see more than 30yds or 40yds beyond where the 'plane was standing.. The rest was unpenetrable mist. The last that anyone in Sydney saw of them, in the bright moonlight, was when they weje out over the sea beyond the Heads. With the engine purring beautifully, the machine, silhouetted against the ' sky made an impressive picture. ' ’ Moncrieff’s one little request, at a pleasan,t little farewell in the officers’ mess at Richmond, was to the press photographers. who bad necessarily to use flares to take their picture. He asked them specially not to suddenly light a flare as the machine was moving off: “If they do,” he said with a smile, “ I’ll faint, and that 11 be the end of the section.” Aviation is the richer for the memory of w these two gallant men, if it is the poorer, as it” now appears to be, for their loss. Sydney folk with wireless in their homes, hung on until the last minute each night, hoping for 'the best news. In the city one felt very sensibly a general feeling of depression.