TRIALS OF AN AIRMAN

Taranaki Daily News, 8 November 1932, Page 6

TRIALS OF AN AIRMAN

BERTRAM’S “WORST FLIGHT”

STORM OVER BASS STRAIT,

“Whew! Your sunny Australian weather! It was one of the worst storms I have ever met, and the worst flight I have ever had,” said Captain Hans Bertram. the German aviator, when he landed at the Essendon aerodrome, near Melbourne, on October 19, after a forced landing* at Lang Lang on his return from Tasmania.

Captain Bertram left Essendon for Launceston on October 17 in his Junkers monoplane Atlantis. He lectured there that night and then flew to Hobart, where he lectured the next night. He left Hobart on the return journey to Essendon at 20 minutes past 10 o’clock the following morning. He then had on board enough petrol to carry him on for five and a-half hours, and he expected to accomplish the return journey in from three and a-half to four hours. The airman met with very stormy weather all the way, and when he had reached the neighbourhood of Lang Lang, which is approximately 50 miles from Melbourne, his petrol supply, ran out, and he had to make a forced landing at Caldermeade. Some anxiety was felt for his safety until a-message was received in Melbourne of his landing.

Captain Bertram, who seemed to have revelled in the stormy flight, remarked that he did not see either coastline, so unfavourable were the flying conditions. He could see at the farthest 200 yards ■ ahead, and he had had to fly the monoplane about 20 feet or 30 feet hbove both land and sea. The weather throughout the journey was very stormy, with pelting showers of rain. The wind was’ practically head-on all the way. . , , After the flier passed Phillip Island the weather abated somewhat. Lang Lang was reached at 10 minutes past 3 o’clock. -The petrol tank was then practically empty, and Captain Bertram had no alternative but to land. Word was sent to a garage, and a 40-gallon drum of petrol was taken out to the Atlantis, from which a supply of 20 gallons was drawn to carry the monoplane to Melbourne. Captain Bertram left Lang Lang at a quarter to 5 o’clock and arrived at Essendon half an hour later.