FLIGHT OVER TASMAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16377, 27 June 1927, Page 11

FLIGHT OVER TASMAN

AUSTRALIA PREPARING DETERMINED TO EE FIRST SPIRIT IT' IMYALIf! RAISED. S'i DNIsY. .Imif 16. With tin' twits ut Lindbergh Mini Chamberlain sotting tin' fashion m 1 1 nns ocean flights, a suggestion emanating I nan New Zealand that the Tasman Fen should ho spanned in a nun-stop ilasli was received with favot' by Australian aviation experts. I Inef eomnient on ihe proposal was made m Melnourne, ami it was fairly d'elimtely unhealed that the atlempt would be made from the V u-' torian capital probably m or September. The proposal ibal a New Zealand airman should he the tusi to .attempt- the flight over the I2CO _nnle* of water has roused the spun o! riv.tliy m Australian airmen, who are emphasising that an Australian, and uni a New Zealander, should be the fust m the air. The .Minister of Defence, .Sir William (ilasgow, said if such a High! were successful. it- would lie a tremendous advance in toiiimmiH at ion between (be two Dominions of the Pacific. He thought Dial .the carrying on! the lliglii should be left to a pilot, supported by private enterprise, the same as m other count ties. Captain Williams, who made tin- successful flight to the Pacific Islands al the end of last year, said: "We arc the most aefive air lona 1 in the Doniiniotys, and it seems to me that this is a flight that might he looked upon as something for Australia to do. We have no land planes I hat could do the trip ill one High!, and to do if in more than one flight, via Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, would moan using a seaplane. At this time of the year H would lie impossible to do it in one flight in daylight. The best time would lie in the spring or summer. Even with seaplanes, l doubt if the Air Force could do it in the three hops, because tiler© would have to be a margin tor safety.” “AN AUSTRALIAN SHOULD DO 'I HIS." The Director of Civil Aviation, Colonel HriiiMiiead, said : “Obviously an Australian should do this, not a New Zealander. We have made infinitely more progress in tile air than New Zealand, and more mtorst is taken in aviation in Australia. Nevertheless I am very doubtful if (lie single flight could be clone with a reasonable margin of safety by any machine that is here, without seriously overloading it with petrol. There is no question that the flight could be undertaken with a reasonable degree of safety, thanks to the very excellent radial engines that are being manufactured in England; “J should say that the AustraliaNew Zealand flight could be best accomplished by an amphibian machine or flying boat- at the end of September or in October. It is far easier to flv from Australia to New Zealand than from New York lo Europe, and I am confident that within five or three years we shall have rut infer-Dominion service. That will mean that New Zealand will not- he as far a wav from Melbourne as Sydney is' to-day hv ordinary means of transport.” ' ' < DONATION OF £SOO TOWARD EXTENSES

The president of the Victorian Aero Club, Colonel T. \Y. While, gave an assurance that the non-stop flight from Melbourne would he attempted in a lew months, and added Hint there would he no ditiiculty Ut securing a. machine suitable for' the task. • s,| id that lie had already been premised £SCO toward the expenses of such a flight from one source alone ||j s idea was Dial (lie flight should ho done by .one man Hying alone, or by two men, one acting as navigator and relieving pilot.