IN THE AIR.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16609, 5 December 1919, Page 3

IN THE AIR.

MARTINSYDE MACHINE. j STARTS FOR AUSTRALIA. j By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. (Received Dec. 5, 8.45 a.m.) LONDON, Deo. 4. [ The Martinsvde machine left Houus- ; low at 9.31 and made an excellent start. i ROSS SMITH DELAYED. ! WELTEVEREDBN (Java), Dec. 4. i Captain Ross Smith was detained at | Singora, and is arriving at 1 Singapore ; to-day. | ROSS-SMITH’S FINE FLIGHT. ■FROM BANGKOK TO SINGAPORE. ! (Received Dec. 5, 12.30 p.m.) | jjcc. 5. j Iloss-Smilh tables iruiu Singapore I on ueteaiuer 4: "i jwt naiigiiuii on r/c- ---' ceaiutr - no i o'c-iucs auu arrived at j bmgora at 1 o’ciucK. i was escorted ! lor the lirst buy nines Oy lour Sium- : oso maenmes. Joy course Jay south along ilio east coast ol .Malay. For Uio Urst two liours Uio weauier was good, Uion there was heavy monsoon ram. The wind was strong and changeable, ' someuuics helping and suiuoames ; against mo. it was necessary to lly at , ood leet lor three hours loiiowmg the coast. 1 was almost hJmued by ram, but the country was impossible lor landing and i had to continue iu the worst dying cunmtions I have ever on- 1 countered. \ '•The last hour was Lei‘or. The aero- ' drome lauding at Singora was bad and j stumpy. 1 had to land iu a cross wind , on a small dry patch, but got safely j down with luck. Later, while taxi- j ing tho machine tail skid caught j the boot aud broke tho fitting. It was j not serious. I

“I decided that, owing to weather 1 could not reach Singapore without mot> petrol and wired to Penang to send a supply urgently. During the night there wore heavy squalls and the crow held the machine all night. On December 3 there was torrential rain with wind. I repaired the skid. The crow were wet through working at the machine all day, but were cheerful. The petrol arrived in the evening, but it was raining too hard to put it in. “The 4th was my birthday. ■ The weather was bad, but I decided to try for Singapore. I left Singora at 10 o’clock and arrived at Singapore at 5 o’clock. The tako-olf at Singora was very rough, but convicts had cleared the stumps from the aerodrome, which was very wet in patches, but I got off j luckily in a cross wind. There Was : rain all the way. I flow at from 2000 I to 500 feet all the way. I had a great reception at Singapore by a huge crowd.

“I hope to reach Java on tho 6th and Darwin on the 10th. The Vimy and crew are well.”

POULET STRIKES ENGINE TROUBLE. (Received Dec. 5, 12.15 p.m.) RANGOON, Dec. 4. Poulefc started in the morning and had almost crossed tho Gulf of Mataban when engine trouble developed and hi decided to return to Rangoon for a thorough overhaul. CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. NOT BACK IN LONDON. (Received Dec. 5, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 2. The cablegram stating that Captain Matthews had returned to London was incorrect. Ho cabled on the 3rd that he had arrived in Vienna with tho Sopwith machine. Ha hopes soon to start ior Belgrade. Bad weather and lack of petrol were responsible for the delay. BIPLANE BEING, BUILT. FOR ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. (Received Dec. 5, 1.30 p.m.)

LONDON, Deo. 2. Blackburn and Company are constructing a siuglo-eugmed hipiane lor Cope’s Antarctic expedition to make tho nnal 400 mile dasn to the Pole, it will have great lilting capacity and carry tour men, including Cope and Wilkins, also a considerable quantity oi sledging and camping equipment and provisions tor at least ten weeks, 10 meet an emergency in tho even® of the machine crashing, necessitating a return on foot. it will carry sufficient petrol to cover 12,000 miles, owing to thore being no likelihood of following a direct route. It will start for the Pole from the Great Barrier at an altitude of 50iX) feet, but the machine must bo capable of flying at 11,000 feet which, owing to the rarotied atmosphere, is equal to 21,000 feet in lower latitudes. It must, be'warmed throughout and the whole fuselage must be airtight. The machine will bo sent to Scandinavia in January to test its suitability for cold regions. An oil-cooled engine will be used, as a water-cooled or aircooled engine is impracticable, owing to freezing and fragility.