FLIGHT TO ENGLAND

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18067, 19 April 1933, Page 7

FLIGHT TO ENGLAND

MRS. BONNEY AT SINGAPORE (Received April 19, 11 a.m.) SINGAPORE, April 18. Mi’s. Hilda Bonney, tho Australian airwoman who is flying to England, arrived here this afternoon. She reached Batavia yesterday, and left for Singapore at 6.30 o’clock this morning. Mrs. Bonney left Darwin on Saturday morning, and in four days has covered approximately 3400 miles. Mrs Bonney who is the first woman to attempt an Australia-England flight, achieved fame in the aviation world when she completed the first flight around Australia by a woman in September last. •She is a cousin by marriage of Squadron Leader Bert Hinkler. She learned to fly in Queensland, but was refused an A license on medical grounds. Subsequently she underwent a course l of treatment, and 10 days before starting on her flight around the Commonwealth received her B license.

She was involved in an accident during tho flight, which fortunately was not attended with serious results. While three miles from Wangaratta, she was met by a machine piloted bv FlyingOfficer 11. C. 0 wen, a former EnglandAustralia aviator, with Mr. ,1. T. Harrison, a well-known Australian aerial photographer, in tho other seat. They were flying at 2000 ft., when the rudder of Mr. Owen’s machine touched the left wing of Mrs. Boimey’s aeroplane. Mr. Owen’s machine immediately went into a spin, and fell 800 ft. before ho regained control. Mrs. Bonney’s Moth only had its wing fabric torn. * After seeing Mr. Owen land successfully, she continued her flight. Earlier in her efforts she made a had landing at Fitzroy Creek, and fractured a rear wing spar. She was not aware of the broken spar until she reached Perth, where examination showed that it was so badly broken that barely half the top flange held. Mrs. Bonney’s machine is a Moth with Gipsy I engine, and is the machine in which Squadron-Leader C. W. Hill flew from England to Koepang in his great race with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, in October, 1930.