ENTHUSIASM FOR FLYING

Southland Times, Issue 23393, 28 December 1937, Page 8

ENTHUSIASM FOR FLYING

CAPTAIN BURGESS’S CAREER HONOURS IN COMMERCIAL AVIATION (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, December 27 The career or Lapcam joim \veir Burgess, wno commanded me Centaurus on me survey night to i\ew Zealand is one of unbounded ambnion and enthusiasm for flying, which has enabled ium to reach the highest honours in commercial aviation. Me is the youngest son of Captain J. W. Burgess, of the New Zealand Government lighthouse steamer IVlatai, and a brother of Captain D. Burgess, master of the Auckland Harbour Board's ( tug William C. Daldy. He was born in Dunedin in 19U8, and later lived in Picton and then in Wellington, where he received his education. So great was his determination to enter aviation that, on leaving Wellington College in 1930, at the age of 22, Captain Burgess, without any flying experience at all, .refused all assistance and worked his passage to England, where he secured a shortservice commission in the Royal Air Force. Then followed a rapid climb to success.

He served with distinction in several squadrons before being transferred to Calshot, near Southampton, where he received his first training with the Royal Air Force flying-boats. After nearly a year at Calshot, Captain Burgess was commissioned to Basra, in Iraq, where he was stationed for nearly two years. During this time he visited Australia for the Melbourne Centenary celebrations, being second in command of one of the three visiting Royal Air Force flying-boats. Shortly after his return to Basra from Australia, Captain Burgess was transferred back to England, when his five-year commission in the Royal Air Force expired. He then entered the service of Imperial Airways, which marked the beginning of his brilliant commercial flying career. Following appointments to the command of flying-boats between England and Africa, Captain Burgess was given command last July of the Castor, one of the largest of the Imperial Airways flying-boats, making regular flights between Southampton and Alexandria in Egypt, which is part of the air-mail communication between New Zealand and England. The crew of the Centaurus is a highly-qualified one, several of the members having been engaged in pioneer work for the company on other routes. FIRST OFFICER’S EXPERIENCE The first officer, Mr C. F. Elder, aged 27, who was on the Cambria during two crossings of the Atlantic, is a native of Yorkshire. As a sergeant pilot in the Royal Air Force he was attached to a flying-boat squadron and took part in formation flights to Singapore and Shanghai. He was one of the party which made a preliminary air survey of the proposed flying-boat route from Singapore to Sydney. He has been with Imperial Airways since the beginning of the year. In charge of the Centaurus s engines, Flight-Engineer F; Murray has had long and varied flying experience. He served with the Royal Flying Corps during the war and later went to America. Subsequently he was attached to the Air Force in the Irish Free State. Since joining Imperial Airways, he has served at Marseilles, Hythe and Belfast, and for some months was station engineer at Botwood, Newfoundland, where he serviced the two Imperial Airways machines that flew the Atlantic. He is married and his home is in Belfast. THE WIRELESS OPERATORS One of the senior men in his department, the wireless operator, A. Low, has had 14 years’ experience in all phases of wireless work and for several months supervized the servicing and

1 maintenance of all Imperial Airways’ wireless equipment at the Southampton - base. i The other wireless-operator, Mr H. 1 Dangerfield, is a former marine wire- : less operator. He joined the company ■ in 1935. For the past few months he has - been serving in Empire flying-boats r on the South African route. During the : summer he was a member of the crew 5 of the Cambria on her Atlantic flights. The sixth member of the crew, the • steward, Mr H. J. Bingham, comes from > Sydney. He joined the company last i year after several years on vessels of > the P. and O. and Cunard White Star ' lines.