Miss Jean Batten's Story Of Her Solo Flight From London to Sydney

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18596, 5 January 1935, Page 10

Miss Jean Batten's Story Of Her Solo Flight From London to Sydney

THE most interesting pari of "Solo 1 Plight "is tin' log kept by Mis& Joan Batten on her third flight from England to Australia. Sonic of the entries for May 23, written in (he ail in n hold hand, run:--" 11 a.m.: Wish time would pass more quickly. 1.1.30: Hot work pumping petrol by hand—headwind' must' have increased; have pumped all petrol through to top tank. .1:2 p.m.: Having lunch, must sec land soon. 12.20 p.m.: No land in sight vet. 12.30: Should have seen land by now; wonder if petrol will last out. 12.45 p.m.: Hurrah, land, Hurrah, must he about 30 miles away. 1.15 p.m.: About. 20 miles S. of Darwin; will have slight following wind up coast. 1.30: Landing Darwin."

Between the terse lines one can read something of the difficulty and excitement of the flight, which lowered the record set by -Mrs Mollison for the journey by 4J days, and completed on arrival' at Sydney the first solo flight bv a woman' from London to Sydney. Miss Batten attributed the success of her flight to the generous help of Lord Wakefield, the reliability of her live-year-old Gypsy .Moth, and' the selfsacrificing encouragement given her liv her mother.

The authoress modestly refrains from mentioning the most important factors of success—her , own skill, courage, and pertinacity, which not only brought her safely through the dangerous venture, but did so after she had already made two unsuccessful attempts. In". April, lit:;;;, she set off from England, but the engine failed and she crashed at Karachi.

'.•'•When I In' crash occurred'," she writes, "I crawled from beneath the wreckage heavily in debl ami n'b.solutoly penniless." But Lord Wakefield came to the rescue, and one year later she tried again, only to battle through terrible weather for her plane to run out of petrol over Rome at midnight ami become damaged when she was forced to make a landing at a wireless station in the darkness. So Miss Batten just, effected repairs, and went up again, to arrive back in London on -May G, leave on the Bth and land at Darwin-on the 23rd«

"Solo Flight." is the airwoman s own account of her three adventures. Although told in simple, workaday prose, her account is full of interesting little episodes. After the forced landing at Rome, she says calmly, "We walked over to a house, where an old woman insisted on bathing my mouth. Aly lip had been cut and was hanging open, and this accounted for the difh; eultv 1 had experienced in trying to talk." One finishes the hook With a very genuine admiration and' liking for the' charming and intrepid young New Z-enlander.