OVER EVEREST

Southland Times, Issue 21983, 5 April 1933, Page 5

OVER EVEREST

BRITISH AIRMEN A SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT SUMMIT PHOTOGRAPHED GREAT ACHIEVEMENT (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) London, April 4. The Houston-Westland plane, piloted by Squadron-Leader the Marquess of Clydesdale, and the Westland-Wallace machine, piloted by Flight-Lieutenant D. F. Mclntyre, conquered Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain (29,141 feet), clearing the summit by over 100 feet.

The flight over Everest was accomplished in exactly three hours with no more fuss than a service flight in England. The only mishap was a fracture of the cinematographer’s (Bonnett’s) oxygen pipe over the summit. It was not noticed until faintness and violent stomach pains compelled him to sit down in the cockpit. Tying a handkerchief over the fracture he soon recovered sufficiently to continue photographing.

The air survey was unsatisfactory because both cameras failed for part of the flight. Nevertheless they produced magnificent photographs over the crest of Everest and the surrounding peaks, including a close-up view of the entire mountain peak, showing the main southern slopes and final ridge where Mallory and Irvine lost their lives;, also the summit itself.

The Marquess of Clydesdale said that both aeroplanes flew over the summit of Everest at 10.5. They felt no bumps. They flew for a quarter of an hour in the vicinity of the summit.

TRIAL FLIGHT HEIGHT OF 35,000 FEET. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) Calcutta, April 3. The Houston aeroplanes made a Sihour trial flight over the Himalayas this morning, reaching a height of 35,000 feet. The airmen took a bag of mails for the Everest climbers who are on their way to the base camp, but the bag was not delivered as the machine/ were unable to locate the party. DARING ADVENTURE THOROUGH PREPARATIONS. LADY HOUSTON’S SUPPORT. Flying men have never planned a more picturesque endeavour than the assault on Mount Everest. Highest of the world’s mountain peaks, the Himalayan giant has defied many gallant climbing expeditions; most of them returned when still thousands of feet from the summit, though it is possible that two British climbers reached the peak a few years ago. When last seen by their comrades they were going strong for the top—but they never came back. At first sight the task before the flying party was comparatively simple. Everest rises 29,000 feet above sea-level. The world’s height record, established last month by Mr Cyril Uwins in a British biplane is 43,976 feet, nearly three miles higher than the summit. But the mountain lies remote in the heart of a terrific range of peaks many of which rival it in stature, in a region where a forced landing would mean destruction and where blow winds of hurricane force. Further, the head of the giant is the home of tremendous storms and vast frozen cloud masses shroud the peak from view for many months of the year. The men who took off from an aerodrome in Northern Bengal at the foot of the great hills to conquer Everest would know that they were beginning one of the most perilous adventures in the history of aviation.

Chief pilot of the expeditio. is the Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, a member of Parliament, squadron leader in the Auxiliary Air Force and well-known amateur boxer. Providing the financial sinews is Lady Houston, whose gift of £lOO,OOO enabled Britain to enter for the Schneider Trophy contest in 1931 and to drive home there a triumph without parallel in the history of international air racing. The Air Ministry and the India Office accorded the expedition hearty support, and the Maharaja of Nepal, within whose territory the mountain stands, gave his permission for the flight over the summit.

In a speech which was read to his constituents, whom he asked for leave of absence during the period of the expedition, Lord Clydesdale explained that the object he and his friends had at heart was first and foremost to foster and promote British world prestige, particularly in India. He added that the flight over Mount Everest was the “only one original flight really worth while”; every other significant part of the world had been flown over. He alluded to the danger of the attempt, not the smallest peril being the fact that fifty miles of the flight would take the aeroplane above “impossible” country, but that he had given that every consideration and had “no wish to subject this constituency again to the expense and trouble of a by-election.” in other words like all truly great adventurers, Lord Clydesdale and his comrades made careful plans and, while recognizing the perils before them believed in their own ability, linked with the trustworthiness of their flying equipment, to overcome them.

A period of intensive training and flying trials preceded embarkation for India. Each member of the party had to obtain the perfection of physical fitness to withstand the ardours of flying above the Himalayas. Aeroplanes and engines were perfectly attuned to the task; there was no room for a

single mechanical failure. Indeed, only the astonishing dependability attained in recent years by the British aero engine put the enterprise within the limits of reasonable endeavour.