AVIATION

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 31

AVIATION

FLIGHT TO SOUTH POLE. WASHINGTON, March 6. Commander Richard Byrd, in an interview, pictured the time when he would be camped on a stationary iceberg, 2300 miles from the nearest human dwelling on his projected exploration trip to the Antarctic. He sa id . <« The expedltion will sail south in September next and expects to return i n June, 1930, though there is a possibility that we might be delayed. New Zealand will be the first stop V\e then voyage across the Ross ice barrier. Ihe main base of the expedi tion will be at the Bay of Whales, where • m o-zon Sen - bad headquarters. This is 2300 miles from the nearest mman dwelling, and the farthest that people have ever lived from civilisation. There we shah establish a small village. After making camp we shall establish several sub-bases 100 miles apart on the way to the South Pole. These are necessary tn the, event of a forced landing. The final nigiit will be most hazardous. Besides radio w e shall use a kite to keep in touch with the last base. The landing will he innor? Pole is on a p'atean x 1110 air at a hei S ht nf ZLnjvit Jias lost so much denseness that it requires a great deal of power to take a -xP ,a " e tlie S round - We shall land with 1200 gal of gasoline and 10001 b of emergency equipment. For the flight, a big monoplane with three engines and a wing spread of 76ft will probably be used. In addition, the expedition will carry two single-engine monoplanes of the type used by Chamberlin on his transatlantic flight. An ice ship, with a bowed hull and two projecting timbers to push aside the floes, is being constructed.” Fifty-four men will make the trip. M r Floyd Bennett, the companion of Commander Byrd on his North Pole trip, will be second in command. Maps will be made, photographs taken, and scientific data will be brought back to civilisation. The frozen area to be explored is larger than the United States and Mexico combined. The trip is primarily for scientific purposes. Commander Byrd added: ‘‘ I regard whatever hazards are encountered justified by the increase in man’s knowledge which the expedition will make possible.” ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. LONDON, March 8. A woman’s sensational secret attempt to fly the Atlantic from east to west has been disclosed by the Daily Express. The Hon. Elsie Mackay, third Jaaghter of Lord Inchcape, is due to start at noon to-day from Cranwell Aerodrome with Captain Hinchcliffe in a machine named “ The Adventure,” which has been brought specially from America. It has a cruising speed of 90 miles an hour. A course will be laid straight to Baldonnell, on the west coast of Ireland, thence to Newfoundland. Secret preparations have been progressing for months. Extra petrol tanks have been installed in the wings, and more petrol will be carried in aluminium tins, saving 2Jlb per fourgallon tin. The Hon. Elsie Maekay, who is short, dark, and pretty, has had a life full of adventtire, and is an accomplished horsewoman. She was among the first to obtain a pilot’s certificate, and she had recently been engaged designing decorations fog her father's liners. AERIAL SURVEYS. RUGBY, March 8. Aeroplanes are being increasingly employed for aerial survey work, and a British firm, the Aircraft Operating Company, which has specialised in this direction, has designed a special craft f;r this purpose, based on experience during surveys in Northern Rhodesia. The pilot sits in the nose of the machine, and the photographer operates his camera from a special cabin near the pilot, with a vertical view of the ground through windows in the floor. The machine is specially engined to permit of a mntinuous flight at great heights over unmapped bush. The Operating Company is at present completing a survey of the Zambesi River for the Northern Rhodesian Government, and is preparing maps of an area of 6000 miles. An expedition has now been despatched to Baghdad to carry out a survey of 1000 square miles in the vicinity of the city, and one of its representatives is now in South America arranging for an aerial survey of certain cities and harbours. CAPTAIN WILKINS’S EXPLOIT. FAIRBANKS (Alaska), March 6. Captain Wilkins, aviator and explorer, and Carl Eilson, pilot, plan to start next week for Point Barrow in a monoplane. The 500-mile preliminary hop to Spitzbergen is tentatively set for the first week in April. MAIL ’PLANE SERVICE. LONDON, March 8. The first mail ’plane arrived at Cape Verde Islands. It transpires that a shortage of petrol caused it to descend, giving rise to the report that it was missing. A second hydroplane of the service is en route. • MP. HINKLER AT BRISBANE. BRISBANE, March 9. Mr Hinkler was enthusiastically received at a round of festivities arranged in his honour. He was presented with a cheque for £lOOO at the newspaoer Courier office, which is the first instalment of a public subscription.

CAPTAIN HINCHCLIFFE. LONDON, xdarch 8. xMystery surrounds Captain Hinchcliffe’s destination. The officials at Cranwell aro unaware whether it ig India or America, but certainly it i s one or the other. Thera is accommodation for two, but it is unknown who will accompany him. The Hon. Elsie Mackay said: 1 am very annoyed at the whole matter. i never intended going. I have only a small financial interest. The project was to establish a record non-stop flight. ’ Captain Hinchcliffe says that he hopes to make a transatlantic flight shortly, but will first carry out a long-distance nonstop run, and may attempt to reach Karachi. In any case, he will try to be the first man to travel by air to America. The Hon. Elsie Mackay admits that she has been aloft on every occasion in the machine s trials. She would give anything to go on the transatlantic flight, but her father opposed. The York Sun publishes a statement to the effect that secret arrangements were made, for the Hon. Elsie Mackay and Captain Hinchcliffe to make a transatlantic flight, but premature publicity forced them to abandon it. The Sun obtained the admission to this effect from Mr John Gillespie, who is Captain Hinchcliffe’s American manager, who added that the flight was to be undertaken despite the objections of the Hon. Elsie Mackay’s family. AMERICAN AIR MAIL SERVICE. WASHINGTON, March 8 The Post Office Department has adopted a programme designed to give an air mail service within 10 years to every city in the United States with a population above 50,000. The department expresses the hope that the .great improvement in facilities will increase the number of ’planes and the mileage in the coming year. BRITAIN’S AIR ESTIMATES. LONDON, March 8. The Air Estimates for 1928 reach a net total of £16,250,000, an increase on last year of £700,000. Sir Samuel Hoa-re (Air Minister), in a memorandum, explains that, omitting special appropriations, there i s a gross decrease of £851,000, despite the provision of a year in which the Royal Air Force, as distinct from the fleet air arm, has been enlarged by two new flights in flying boats and the formation of two new squadrons in India. The two new flights bring the air units allotted to fleet work to 25 flights. Considerable progress has been made ir cooperation and uniformity with the Dominion’s air forces. The officers who joined the Royal Air Force on short-service commisisons, after initial training in Australia. have proved themselves valuable and efficient. CROYDON TO THE CAPE. LONDON, March 9. Lady Bailey left Croydon unacconrpanied in a De Haviland Moth capable of remaining in the air for ten-hour stretches. Her destination is the Cape, and she plans to reach it by a series of, short hops via France, Italy, Malta, and Sudan. MR HINKLER IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, March 11. Mr Bert Hinkler has arrived, concluding his epic flight from Croydon. He was met by a squadron of aeroplanes, and escoretd to the Mascot Aerodrome, where he received a tumultuous welcome from enormous crowds, which congregated al the landing place early in the day.