FLIGHT TO INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1925, Page 7

FLIGHT TO INDIA.

COMFORT IN THE AIR. LESSONS OF THE VOYAGE. London, April 12. Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker (director of civil aviation) and Mr. Alan J. Cobham, the pilot, were entertained at a banquet at the Savoy Hotel by the Royal Aero Chib and the Society of British Aircraft Construction in commemoration of their flight to India and back. Sir Sefton Brancker said flying was , not a stunt but a business proposition. The credit for the flight belonged to the D.H.50, which had served them so marvellously, and the pilot and mechyanic (Mr. A. B. Elliott). They were a “'happy family from the start-to the finish, and he was proud to have been the f'- eping partner in a very fine feat of • lanahip. * . hat had impressed him more than anything was the extraordinary comfort of flying. It had absolutely ruined him for any other form of transport. It was never too hot and never too cold. He believed you could fly continuously pi ht and day without nearly as much unpleasantness as travelling in the ordinary railway train. With regard to the supposed tedium of flying i across the desert, he believed the ordinary cr ossr-Channel pilot would regard it as a jrr • re. iug in the East was a much easier f- position from the commercial point view than it was here, because they could fly fi «m London to Rangoon withoi’.t any necessity to go higher than about 60QOft. hnd lie believed they could fly in any visibility. Mr. Alan Cobham said flying was really ver simple. Their aim had been to come back as they started, and they had succeeded in it. Any flight could b? made an ordinary affair. There was really nothing wonderful about the flight to India and back, and he was convinced that in t n, or even five, years’ time it would be an everyday occurrence. The need was to teach the man in th* street something about flying. He believed the flight was encouraging because it proved the simplicity of flying, and it would help "people to look on aviation as a practical proposition. Mr. A. B. Elliott said very little credit was due either to Mr. Cobham or himgelf for the flight. It was rather to machine and the engine. (Laughter.)