KINGSFORD SMITH

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 27

KINGSFORD SMITH

ARRIVAL AT HESTON WIRELESS TALK WITH WIFE. LONDON, October 7. Air-commodore Kingsford Smith has arrived at Heston. His face broke into a smile when, a quarter of an hour after his arrival, he was informed that his wife was waiting on the wireless telephone at Melbourne. He was engaged for five minutes in a happy conversation, then had a meal of poached eggs before being driven to London, where, revelling in the ease of a deep armchair after a struggle against sleep, he talked freely of his adventures. He explained that landing in Turkey was a case of either coming down or fainting in the air, with possibly disastrous results. “ I came down eight miles from Milas, hoping to snatch a rest and then push on before the authorities found me. I lay down on a leather coat beside the machine, and when I awoke I found villagers grouped around me. Then the police arrived, and I knew the chance of breaking the record was gone. They had never seen an aeroplane before. Soldiers guarded me the first night. Then when I explained that I was an officer in my own country a good-natured officer took charge until the British Embassy secured my release.” The sunstroke, received over the Bay of Bengal through what he admitted was his own carelessness in not wearing a proper tropical flying helmet, worried him throughout, and sometimes made him feel so light headed that he felt like jumping out of the machine. The most unnerving experience of the flight was after the forced landing on a beach near Victoria Point. When he went to the jungle to gather timber with which to prop up the machine and prevent the rising tide damaging it, he heard a tiger growl. “ I covered the 200 yards to the beach in 20sec, and clambered into the cockpit and remained there until morning. I had no sleep that night. My nervous system will not stand the strain of an immediate flight home. I am seeing a doctor to-morrow. My plans depend largely on his advice, but I am hopeful of starting next week, and am confident of breaking the Anglo-Australian record.” STORY OF HIS ADVENTURES. EXASPERATING LUCK. LONDON, October 7. Sitting in a luxurious suite at Dorchester House Hotel, Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park, collarless and with the sleeves of his greasy blue sweater rolled up, Kingsford Smith to-night told the story of his adventurous flight from Wyndham, in which exasperating luck prevented the record being broken. He looked remarkably well considering his trying experiences, but a deep coating of tan hid traces of what must have been a nerve-wracking ordeal. Kingsford Smith, maintaining his Australian reputation of express train punctuality, landed at Heston according to schedule at 5.30. Among those who welcomed him were Mr Mollison, Mr Oscar Garden, Captain J. P. Saul (his navigator during the transatlantic flight), Squadron-leader Marsden, representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Pilot Miss Jean Batten, and Mrs Victor Bruce.