FLYING THROUGH STORM

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1934, Page 6

FLYING THROUGH STORM

MR. ULM AND MR. LYONS. MACHINE ROCKED BY GALE. The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Lyons, and his party had a thrilling and occasionally uncomfortable journey when they flew from Queensland to Sydney recently in the “Faith in Australia.” Leaving Toowoomba about midday, the aeroplane was forced to 10,000 feet by the “bumpy” conditions over the Darling Downs and McPherson’s Range. To avoid the bumps Mr. G. U. Allen, the pilot, headed the machine for the sea, which was reached about Coff s Harbour, 300 miles north of Sydney. There dense clouds were encountered, and 50 miles farther south, the aeroplane flew into heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. , . , , , Low, dark clouds, from which lightning flashes constantly flickered, forced the aeroplane to less than 1000 ft. above the waves, and a strong wind, which at times seemed to reach gale force, rocked it violently. Mr. Allen and Mr. Ulm were able to avojd the worst of the rainstorms, but the rain formed a dense grey curtain, which extended from the clouds to the water, and completely obscured the horizon. Conditions along the coast were so rough that the last 150 miles of the flight was travelled at an average distance of about eight miles from the shore. The coastline, at times, was almost completely hidden By the clouds and the rain.