AIRMAN BREAKS RECORD

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1932, Page 5

AIRMAN BREAKS RECORD

disaster to his machine MOLLISON’S DRAMATIC FINISH. CRASH ON CARETOWN BEACH. Mr. J. A. Mollison, the 26-year-old Scottish airman, narrowly escaped death on Easter Monday, when he crashed at Capetown after breaking the record for the flight from England to the Cape. Worn out with fatigue after flying throughout three nights, Mollison passed right over the aerodrome and fell in the darkness on the beach, with part of his plane in the sea. The machine was completely wrecked. The flier was utterly exhausted and scarcely able to speak. ’ A huge crowd, swelled by hundreds of Easter holidays-makers, had gathered on the beach at the newly-opened municipal aerodrome to await Mollison s arrival. The aerodrome was flooded with light from the beacons placed round the landing field. Suddenly Mollison’s silver-winged Puss Moth was seen overhead. But instead of landing, it flew on into the darkness in the direction of Capetown. Sirens were sounded to attract the airman’s attention, but as the minutes passed and he failed to return the crowd began to fear that he must hav® been killed.

Some time later a taxicab pushed its. way through the people to the front of the landihg ground. Onlookers saw a dazed man stumble out, but not for a> minute or two did they realise that it was Mollison. Then they nearly broke down the little wooden office to which he had been taken in their efforts to catch a glimpse of him. RESCUED BY TAXI-DRIVER. Mollison’s narrow escape from death was later described by the coloured taxi-driver: “I was standing near my car on the road along Blauberg Strand,” he Said, “when I heard a loud drone over my head. I got the fright of my life when an aeroplane suddenly swooped down and fell into the soft sand of the beach with a sickening crash. “It was some minutes before I was able to make out the shape of the aeroplane in the darkness. Groping my way to it, I felt for the cockpit and there I found Mr. Mollison, who appeared to be dead. But when I shook him I was relieved to find that he was only dazed* He quickly recovered and I dragged him out of the cockpit and took him to my car, in which I drove him to the aerodrome.” “By jove, I’m glad I hold the colonial' records,” were Mollison’s first words to a small knot of pressmen and aerodrome officials. He was utterly' exhausted and was hardly able to reply to the volley of questions fired at him, His eyes were bloodshot and his speech, was incoherent. “I tried to land on the beach because the lights were too much for me* he said. “For the last two days I hav® seen all my instruments in duplicate. It must be some nervous shock. 1 < nply could not have landed on the ik.udrome in the glare of all the lights. ’ The subject of the aerodrome light® seemed to be an obsession with him* and he constantly repeated that he wai almost unable to see. Thunderous cheers greeted Miss Amy, Johnson as she pushed her way through the crowd into the small room. “Wei* come, Mr. Mollison; I think you’re won® derful, you hero,” was her greeting. DESCENT IN THE DESERT* Mollison’s chief concern was for has machine and he begged aerodrome offi* cials to try to recover it. “I though! I would do it. when I left Walfisch Bay,” he said. “I didn’t know whethef I’d be able to carry on last. night. J felt very bad at times during’ th® stretch from St. Paul de Loanda Walfisch Bay. “Tell me, do I look bad? Molhso# asked. “I feel atrocious.” “Well, you looked washed out, replied Miss Johnson. The flight, Mollison said, was th® most arduous of his life. He encountered terrific rainstorms over. North Africa. He was forced down one night on the banks of the Niger. While crossing the Sahara he became so terribly drowsy that he landed and rested. for an hour —hundreds of miles from civilisation. The Mayor of Capetown congratulated Mr. Mollison on behalf of the city; and* after a short conversation a way was cleared for him through a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Despite the efforts of the police and officials, the mob carried the airman, who smiled feebly, to the waiting car; and then, amid scenes of o-reat enthusiasm, he was driven off, with the Mayor and Mayoress, to his hotel. TOOTH-BRUSH AS CHIEF LUGGAGE. A tooth-brush, a silver horseshoe and a sprig of white heather were, all the luggage which • Mollison took with him. Even the white heather was not intended to be there, but was smuggled into the plane by a friend before he left Lympne. . Mollison chose the route down th® west coast of Africa, instead of the “Empire route” down the east coast, which Miss Peggy Salaman followed. In doing so he saved about 800 miles—his total distance was 6255 miles—and avoided the dangers of flying in high altitudes in tropical weather, which the Empire route involves. The westerly course is much flatter. It involved, however, a flight of 2000 miles over the desert and the risk of a forced landing among hostile tribesmen. In spite of this he refused to take a revolver with him, because he could not afford even that extra weight. Mollison’s time for the 6255 miles’ flight was : days 17 hours 19 minutes—--15 hours less than the previous record, held by Miss Peggy Salaman and Mr. Gordon Store, and nearly two days less than that set up on Easter Monday last year by Mr. Glen Kidston.