AVIATION

Otago Witness, Issue 3898, 27 November 1928, Page 30

AVIATION

THE FLIGHT TO ENGLAND. BAGDAD THE NEXT STOP. BUSHIRE, November 19. Captain Hurley returned here last night. He left at dawn for Bagdad. SANDSTORMS ENCOUNTERED. BAGDAD, November 20. Captain Hurley arrived last night from Busliire, and attempted early today to take off for Ramleh, but mud prevented him. He succeeded later. Captain Hurley says the passage through the Persian Gulf was a most trying ordeal. He was fighting sandstorms all the way. CAPTAIN HURLEY AT CAIRO. CAIRO, November 22. Captain Hurley arrived this afternoon from Bagdad, stopping at Rutbah, from which place he had a nine hours’ battle with heavy winds. All on board the plane are well. DELAY AT CAIRO. LONDON, November 24. Owing to ignorance of the regulations specifying the necessity for civilian aircraft to give the Egyptian Government 15 days’ notice prior to arrival, Captain Hurley was delayed at Cairo. However, the authorities kindly waived the conditions, and the plane left for Solium, heading out in a mist. The aviators gained fleeting glimpses of the Nile delto with its bewildering tangle of silvery waterways, and turned west along the dividing line, with the blue Mediterranean on the starhoard side and the golden sands of the Libyan desert stretching to the horizon on the port side. They reached Solium at 1 p.m. Solium is a remarkable outpost on the frontier of Egyptian and Italian territory. The aerodrome is on the top of a cliff 900 feet above the sea. There is a treacherous landing surrounded by rocky country, where many aeroplanes have come to grief. The indefatigable Owens is working on the engine, giving it a thorough tune up before crossing the Mediterranean. The plane will leave at daybreak on Sunday for Athens. BRITISH AIRCRAFT. RUGBY, November 19. Orders for British aircraft to the value of over £250,000, embracing all types of machines from small two-seater Avro Avian light aeroplanes to huge two-engine supermarine Napier flying boats, have been received in Britain during the past few weeks. The bulk of the orders have been placed by Australia and Canada, but considerable numbers are also being placed by Chile and Japan.

LOST . AVIATOR’S WIDOW. RUGBY, November 21. There were remarkable scenes at Caxton Hall, Westminster, when Mrs Hinehcliffe made her first appearance under Spiritualist auspices at the W. T. Stead Library, and spoke of her husband’s disappearance. Thousands of women besieged the doors clamouring for admission, and the police were called in to regulate them. Mrs Hinehcliffe recounted how, when she was in touch with well-known mediums, she became interested because of the truth of the intimate details mentioned of her husband’s life. She attended a seance at the London Spiritualistic Alliance, when she heard a clear message from her husband. The message said that they flew 700 miles from the Irish coast northwards. They changed the course at 10 o’clock a little northward, until midnight, when they encountered a terrific gale. One strut of the machine broke, another one was smashed, and one spark plug was misfiring. The further they went the worse the storm became, and at midnight they knew it was impossible to reach America. They deliberately changed their course to the Leeward Islands, and went southwards till 3 o’clock. Tossed in a terrible whirlwind, they were forced into the sea within sight of the Azores. In a later message Captain Hinehcliffe said by Leeward Island he meant the Azores, in trying to reach which they went 400 to 500 miles out of their course. Mrs Hinehcliffe added that she had received a letter from Sir Conon Doyle to the effect that Captain Hinehcliffe sent him a message thanking him for interesting his wife in Spiritualism. She did not mention Miss Mackay, but on closing the lecture she said: “I could give further messages relating to other things, but I am sorry to say I was asked this morning to refrain from doing so.” FIRST FLIGHT IN THE ANTARCTIC. LONDON, November 23. Sir Hubert Wilkins, in a wireless message via Port Stanley, states that the first aeroplane flight in the Antarctic was made to-day, Eielson and Sir Hubert flying the aeroplane that was used in the Arctic flight. It was renamed Los Angeles. It circled the island. Later they tested the second machine, the San Francisco. Although tlie temperature was near the freezing point, the engines worked splendidly.