STORY OF THE VOYAGE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 15089, 11 December 1919, Page 5

STORY OF THE VOYAGE.

Glee Tel! Oorvrltrnt— United Press Assn (Received. Dec, IQ, .11,25,-a.m,)- --: i* .-■'-.. i)ARWIN> Dec. 10. After they passed tlie quarantine ofiicer, the aviators 'Were carried to- the 'residence of the governor of -the gaol, where, replying to a brief -speech of welcome, ■-- Ross-Smith said his success 'Was mainly due to the mechanics, Ben- : nett and); Shiers, who worked tr.emend : ously hard. ., .Tlae njaclune flew, by- yfty. of Italy, ( Egypt, India, and .Burma to Bangkok, ,th.en ♦Singapore. „ . FrontSingapore the route ran through Java, touching at Surabaya to-. Anatofo m Timor. The -last stopping place "is* 500 miles from Danvin; < and; the aeroplane/ , .lef^t shortly after Jialf-paet. eight tKrs 1 morning, covering the flight m. about; seven hours. A good; deal of bad weather was, encountered on the way. „ : Early m . the flight- . the, machine had. [. to. .land ! at Pisa on ground .covered. ; with about 18 inches of water. Sttorms i later were usually, avoided by rising . above th(em. At* Akyab the Vickers- ■ Vimy overtook Poulet,, who was flying ; what one of the aviators, described, as. I "A rotten old bus." Tlioy left about 1 tile same time as Poulet next morning, t but beat him by an hour.. Poulet took this like a good sport, and next day i both machines got under way for - Bangkokj Tlie storm encountered peemr od- to be too much for PouleJ.. They saw him no more. Tlie - Viokers-Viiny had "its worst time at Surabaya. It landed on some reclaimed ground and } iwas nearly bogged,"" going right down > .on one Bide till. one Aving was nearlyin the mud. Next morning it threat- * ened to sstick fast, but about two hun--3 dred coolies set to work and covered c an area^i of three hundred yards long * with bamboo matting, which enabled the machine to get a run and 1 rise. ' . The aeroplane was flying very light " .-during, the .last part of.. the voyage, as^ i at . Singapore the aviators jettisoned their photographic outfit and everything " else- that .c.pnld. be., spared,.^. .. . „. •A • '-'Not on your life." said' Ross-'Smith 1 when asked if he had a wireless out- - Jfit. "It; "weighs 150 pounds and would 'not bo worth it. Unless :we had : the iJ H 'means of giving an obsolutely acciu'ate -, uosition what would be the vise of send- :■- ing a SjO.S. call and Arasting people's il (time loolcing for us." ;-■ ! One-.' of the aviators Expressed the ;■ opinion rthat the disaster which overr ; tookllb9s and;. Douglas waa.duie to not* .! having' tho machine overhauled. The t ayiatorfPipaid . fa ■'.• tribute., to., the r.emavk : - l n able kindness >-andl : hospitality of the a . Dutch residents of the. places stopped (j , at.. . With the exception.,, of a few re- ' i serves such as a tin of hullr beef, the s aviatons carried no food, nantl depended; ,1 on securing .it at the,. stopping places. ■I Their last meal before reaching Aus- , tralia n*|s a few sandwicheß <fiven thenr ' t befoi'e they „ left Timor.. The weather 1 ■m the Netherlands' tndies was, -very. 'bad,, "very hot; abd close,, exce.pt when j they were iactuallv flying .well, . above. tlie earth and with .occasional storms.' '. Ono of the mechanics summed up the* views' , of the., journey as a- whole by saying !t that he ( would not. do it again for. ft one hundred' thousand rounds.- • .■ k •--". DARWIN, .Pec. 11. ' Ross-Smith stays 'two doys overhaul, .■ the engines, and then starts, a flight \Pi .Jfelbournej as. already, outlined. „ , !" , Tlie aviators were entertained at din-< 8 her- last -nip;ht>bv a large gatherings . k , ■ s One of the features of the voyage v was the fes-r, ttCe.aer.pplane. inspired m. ' i the . natives m. tne more out-of-the-way J, «ountries m Timor. The natives hid 5. behind trees and. threw: themselves, flat, <jn «tho's§»'ownd r It was? tho^same w

Siam, Burma, and' parts of Syria. Nowhere did the natives show any hostility towards' the airmen.