FAMOUS AIRMEN

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1931, Page 9

FAMOUS AIRMEN

COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPHS.

UNIQUE CIGARETTE CASE.

A silver cigarette case, on which are engraved the autographs of famous aviators who have made memorable flights to or from Australia, is the treasured possession of Mr. W. H. E. Judd, of the Vacuum Oil Proprietary, Ltd., Melbourne. The case was procured by Mr. Judd in Wellington and has a back of New Zealand greenstone. As the 25 signatures it contains now leave no room for additional autographs, a silver leaf has been added to the case. Mr. Judd commenced collecting these autographs in 1919, when Sir Keith Smith and Sir Ross Smith, the first airmen to fly from England to Australia, opened the list with their signature. No doubt they would have been surprised could they have known the number of aviators who would add their names to the cigarette case in the 12 years that followed.

The Sniith brothers, whose names appear first, landed at Darwin on December 10,, 1919, after a flight of 28 days. Their average speed was 76 miles an hour. Both aviators received knighthoods for this achievement. Sir Ross Smith; with Lieutenant Bennett, was killed in an air crash in London on April 13, 1922.

The next autographs obtained were those of Lieutenant R. Parer and the late Lieutenant J. C. Mclntosh, who flew from England to Australia early in 1920.

Sir Alan Cobham, another pioneer aviator whose autograph appears on the ease, landed at Darwin on August 6, 1920. He was the first aviator, to make the flight both ways. His average speed was 82 miles an hour, six miles an hour faster than that of the Smith brothers. Altogether, he flew 26,000 miles, and his flying time was a little over 320 hours. At that time it was the longest flight in the world.

Another aviator to sign his name on the case was Marchese de Pinedo, of the Royal Italian Air Staff, who, in a Savoia seaplane, left Rome on April 21, 1925, and arrived at Broome on May 31. He returned ' via Japan, reaching Rome on November 6. ; '

Air-Commodore Kingsford Smith, whose signature is beside those of Parer and Sir Keith Smith and Sir Ross Sniith, is probably the greatest of these pilot pioneers. For the merit ;of his achievements he. stands alone.

The cigarette case also has the signatures of Amy Johnson, 8. Goble, CYcar Garden, W, Lancaster, C. P, Uira, A. L. Long, A. W. Ward, V. J. Mclntyre, H. N. Wrigley, A. H. Cobby, and Colonel H. C. Brjnsmead, now Controller of Civil Aviation in Australia.