OSCAR GARDEN SLIPS IN

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1930, Page 8

OSCAR GARDEN SLIPS IN

NO WELCOME; NO CIGARETTE. SIMPLE TALE OF FINE FLIGHT. Sydney, Nov. 7. The most casual of all the EnglandAustralia flyers is expected to land in Sydney to-day. He is the New Zealander Oscar Garden, who landed at Wyndham, in the north of Western Australia, on Tuesday. . Apart from a few small paragraphs in Sydney papers announcing that Garden had left Croydon, hardly a person in Sydney knew that such a person was even attempting to fly to Australia. When it was announced on Wednesday morning in the Press that Oscar Garden had landed at Wyndham from England by ’plane many thought it sonic new politcial joke about Mr. J; Garden, a Trades Hall leader in Sydney. They will be disillusioned to-day when the flyer lands at Mascot. Garden landed at the deserted aerodrome at Wyndham at 5.15 p.m. on Tuesday, 19 days out from London. His first request was for a cigarette, but not one could be found. Not a soul in Wyndham exuected him and when he landed he found that Pilot Brown, of the West Australian mail service was the only occupant of the field. Both set off to walk the three miles to Wyndham and were met on the way by cans. ' ’ , „ - . Garden told a simple tale of his mentorious flight from England. He is the first Scotsman to make the journey by air and is also the youngest pilot to carry out the feat. , He is 27. Interviewed, ' Garden said: I left Croydon on October 17; but ■ was held up at Constantinople for one day in the iurkish military aerodrome—over passport trouble. I was also delayed two days at Jansi, where, landing in the dark on a ploughed field, the plane went over on its back, breaking its propeller and doing other small damage. This accident was caused by wrong information given to. me about ( the location of the aerodrome at Jansi.”' ■ His hops from Calcutta were: Rangoon, October 30; Singora, October 31; Singapore, November ,1; Batavia, November Biba, November 3; and Wyndham, NoThe journey was fairly uneventful, but he had 'very' little sleep during the last six days. At Sourabaya, Captain Hill called him on the telephone, and advised him not to land at Atamboea aerodrome. He left Bima at daylight for Koepang, where he landed. His was the first plane to land at the new aerodrome. His time from Koepang to Wyndham was six hours. He said he was not keen about the long hop over the water and breathed an immense sigh of relief when Australia was sighted half an hour before he arrived at the coast. ; ■