NEWS SUPPRESSED IN ITALY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21086, 12 July 1938, Page 7

NEWS SUPPRESSED IN ITALY

Success of British Aircraft

Loss of Record Not Disclosed

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph— Copyright (Received July 11, 11.40 p.m.) ROME, July 11. The public thus far are ignorant that Italy has lost the long distance formation record. The Italian newspapers have not reported the British Air Force flight of July 8. Nevertheless it is privately learned that Italy intends to challenge the British record, possibly in a flight to the Far East. It is understood the British flight to Australia will probably be in October.

On Friday last the British Air Ministry announced a secret record r nstop formation flight by four Royal A’r Force Vickers Wellesley machines, from Cranwell to Ismailia, a distance of 4300 miles, at an average ground speed of 135 miles an hour. First news of the flight was given out fter the landing at Ismailia. The formation left Cranwell at 4.15 a.m., British Standard Time, on Thursday, and landed at 12.10 p.m., British Standard Time, Friday. The aeroplanes flew to a point between Koweit and the ~ hrein Islands, thence westward to Ismailia. An average height of 10,C?0ft was maintained and conditions were good throughout the flight. Progress was reported regularly by wireless and there was also continual communication among the machines. Ismailia, in Lower Egypt, is situated on Lake Timsah, about 50 miles from the Mediterranean, and the same distance from the Red Sea. It was laid out in 1863 during the construction of the Suez Canal. The Bahrein Islands form a group in the Persian Gulf, ruled by a native sheikh under British protection, and Koweit is a seaport of Arabia on the Persian Gulf.