LOMG LONE FLIGHT

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1930, Page 3

LOMG LONE FLIGHT

’ ’ ' AUSTRALIA TO LONDON. -- MR. CUNNINGHAM’S CAREER. : ; Sydney,. Aug. ,7. Many amusing sidelights are , being told of the career of Andrew Cunning-, ham, the Australian aviator, who set off, secretly, . early one morning last week, on a-flight from Sydney, to London. In many respects lie. is a remark'able man,' a man of impulse, and just as likely as not to succeed oh his great mission. It was- typical of<him to.set off Unannounced at an age wheir -most •m6n are thinking of settling down in eoriifort. He is rising forty, and, in-Iris own 'words, “a bit thin on the thatch. '.'He- can : best be .described as athlete, soldier and scholar. • ' Everybody in the-tiny village of Tharwa, about' 20 miles from Canberra, know's Andy Cunningham arid his plane. Tharwa residents were not ■ surprised when they were told that he was on his way to England; Tharwa boasts of few things, but it’ does boast of Cunningham. He has lived much of his life in the district, and lie once owned a property there. He. has had a plane for years and has been credited with some amazing feats; It is. said- that he was in the habit of making, earlymorning flights, sometimes taking off at 4.30 a.m. He never wore more than shirt or singlet and trousers. He would, fly over the mountains like that, and lie would often make long trips without notice. Sometimes he would set off in his plane for the.coast on a fishing expedition, and his landing, ground on such occasions was the. top of a cliff. The onlv means of getting away was to taxi about 200 feet, half the distance of which was uphill and the other half downhill, and then drop over a cliff which was about feet high. He would gain llis flying speed-after leaving the edge. ', ' ’ ' Cunningham was awarded the ■ M.C. at the Great War. It is said of him, In all sincerity, that ho earned the decoration many times. The: game and generous deed was a commonplace with him. He commanded ' the Australian Fourth Liglit Horse Machine Squadron, into which lie gathered' many kindred spirits. Cunningham did not say much to his men, but he showed them What he expected of them, and he took it for granted that they would do it. A bluff, simple iriaii, he has never really outgrown the boyish sense of adventure. He°was not above taking his coat off and going behind a tent to any man who preferred that way of settling an argument. He is a man of phenomenal physical strength and prowess. Probably his greatest achievement was the day his squadron posted their guns on the ridges in the foothills of Moab, and delayed for many hours a massed enveloping movement of Turkish infantry in great force. Thu gave time for the Australian Mounted Division to extricate itself from what Sir Harry Chauvel, in his mild way, described as “an extraordinary difficult situation.” Cunningham was wounded on Gallipoli, and when he returned home he entered the Sydney University before he returned to his father’s station close to Canberra. He stroked his college four and his university’s eight. He was also nominated for the Australian Eight for the Olympic Games at Stockholm, but he had to.refuse the offer. v ' The initial stages of the flight were enshrouded in a strange mystery, the

papers emphasising that the aviator was masked when he set oft. Cunning.ham lias stated that his desire was that his relatives should not be worried owin" to his exploit. Nobody who knows him has any doubts about whether'he will succeed, but there are few who are prepared to predict that he. will bleak Hinkler’s wonderful recoid. In his^. desire to escape notoriety he has achieved it, and his flight will be*followed with ever' greater ' interest than would wise have been the case*