Undaunted Airman

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 15

Undaunted Airman

To Australia in a Moth Rooke on the Persian Gulf D]S!NIS Rooke, who is flying to Australia in a Moth, and who spent the week-end at Basra, has encountered great difficulties, but has so far triumphed over them all and declares his determination of getting through “or pegging out.” “A true Digger,” is how the men of the Royal Air Force at the Mesopotamian station describes him, in a message to the “Sydney Sun.”

BASRA, June 18. “If I related all my experiences I could be called a liar,” said Denis Rooke, who is making a solo flight to Australia, in a Moth, under the auspices of the De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., to an interviewer to-day. Rooke, however, is most reticent about these happenings, because of the special reasons connected with the flight, and also because the London Press had published what he called nonsensical interviews. Further, he is making the flight as an English sportsman, and not a stunt. “He is a true Digger,” is the view expressed of Rooke by local R.A.F. officers, who say that the flight will be a finer contribution to aviation than glorified stunts. One officer, told of a forced landing in the Italian Libyan Desert, which is inhabited by hostile tribes, and of how Rooke took his engine to pieces, and rectified the trouble, saying it was a marvellous effort.

Rooke said he attributed his engine troubles to the great heat. Sometimes he was flying in a heat belt of 140 deg. The engine has been running beautifully, however, since the overhaul.

He encountered an appalling storm in the Straits of Messina. Tne plane was shaken, overturned, and tossed about at the mercy of the wind and torrential rain.

Rooke had not touched a plane for nine years, but he experienced no difficulty in navigating the Moth. “In fact,” he said, “finding ones way about the world is easy.” Rooke will spend Sunday night at Chaba. He expects to reach Karachi on Tuesday, and will then ily to Calcutta. He said the worst lap would begin at Karachi.

“I shall encounter the monsoon with its storms and bad visibility right to Victoria Point, but I will get through or peg out,” said Rooke. “I intend to touch at Wyndham or Derby, and possibly Broome, but I am not going to Port Darwin. I don’t like it.”