TRANS ATLANTIC FLIGHT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 85, 26 June 1930, Page 2

TRANS ATLANTIC FLIGHT

FOIUfEIt EXPLOITS EE( ALLEI).

Squadron Leader Kingsford Smith's

trans-Atlantic flight recall;-; a number of attempts, some of which were successful, to cross the North Atlantic. The late Captain H. 0. Hawker, an Auslraiiu'.i, in 1919, made a bid for the prize of £IO,OOO offered by

the "Daily Mail" for the flight across t!i e Atlantic. On the 18th 'May,

Commander Mackenzie Grieve, U.S., and Captain Hawker left Newfoundland on the Atlantic flight. Nothing was heard of these flyers for days, but subsequently news came through that they had fallen into the sea, a*ad had been picked up

by a passing ship when they had been almost two -hoifrs in the water. The two airmen kept themselves afloat by clinging to the petrol tank of, the machine. When they were taken on hoard th c petrol tank of the machine wasl also taken up with them, and was at a later date used i»a the Sopwith Wallaby machine in which Captain G. C. Mathews left England for Australia a few weeks before the beginning of the. Ross Smith flight. Hawker's valiant attempt to cross thy Atlantic was not without i) tinge of romance. When nothing had been heard of him for days, his wife's faith in his escape from death never wavered.

Two year's later, while preparing for th e aerial derby at Hendon his aeroplane was seen to burst into flames at a great height and crash to earth. Captain Hawker jumped from the machine before it reached the earth, but was killed. On the Bth May, 1929, an American seaplane, N.C., in charge of Lieutenant Commander A. C. Read, left for Great Britain by way of the Azores. Commander Read reached Lisbon and then' flew to Plymouth on May 31.

The Daily Mail prize was won by the late Captain John Alcoclc and Lieutenant A. "Whittne Brown, who set out from Newfoundland in June of th e same year in a Vickers-Vimy biplane, and landed in Ireland on the following day. Botli airmen received a knighthood. The South Atlantic has been crossed a number of times from east to west, but this route i's less hazardous than the North Atlantic crossing. No further attempts were made to cross the Atlantic by air until 1925, when Commanders Cabral and Continhe left Lisbon on the 30th March for Pernambuco, South America. After forced landing at Las Palinas and St. Vincent de Paul's rocks, they reached Pernambuco on sth June. On January 22nd, 192 G, Commandante Franco and Captain Ruiz Alda left Spain, also, for Pernambuco. After leaving Cape Verde]. Islands their petrol supply failed, and a forced landing was made at the Island of Fernando Nornha, and the flight was finished on January 21st. On' May 22nd, Coloney (then Captain) Lindbergh, using Mobiloil, crossed from New York to Paris in 33J hours. This was 'a solo

attempt, and was one of the most sensational flights on record.

Several women have lost their

Jives in an attempt to cross the Atlantic. In spite of the hazardous nature of such a flight, Mijss Amelia Earheart, of Boston, decided to attempt this journey. a trimotor Pokkcr was used. She hop-

ped from Newfoundland c»j 17th June and landed .safely in Wales the next day. The distance covered was about 2000 miles. Mobiloil was also used to lubricate Miss Earheart's machine.