12,000 FEET OVER CITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16512, 24 August 1921, Page 8

12,000 FEET OVER CITY.

D b Hb9 machine tested, At 12,500 feet above Cathedral Square yesterday, in a D.H.9 machine from the Sockburn aerodrome, Cap r tain Dickson declared that it was almost impossible to say whether he was weir Christchurch or Lyttelton. If his engine had failed him at that altitude he would have been able to make a safe landing within a twelve mile radius—that is to say that, without using his engine, lie might have landed at either of two points twenty-four miles distant from one another. A perfect bird’s-eye view of the whole of Banks Peninsula, lay in bright sunshine two and a half miles below the machine. Looking northward a view was obtainable right beyond Kaikoura Peninsula and into Kaikoura Bay. Westwards heavy clouds cut off the Southern Alps, but on a clear day the Tasman Sea would, have been visible. The machine climbed 10,000 ft in eighteen minutes under the powerful lift of its great Siddelev-Puma engine. The. clear air was cold at this high altitude, notwithstanding the bright sunshine. At 12,0CX) feet Captain Dickson cut out the engiue and tilted the machine up ou Jts w ing tip in a long spiral descent calculated to test the manoeuvrability of the machine, which is one of three D.TT. 9’s that will be employed in the Blenheim mail services. The roar of the engine ceased, but it was possible to hear the whining of the wires as the machine was held on its course in huge aerial spirals. From the ground the aeroplane look ed like a. black gnat, except when a sudden turn brought a burnished flash of its wings and body. The occupants of the machine, on their part, saw Cathedral Square like a tiny opening in the smallest miniature of a city, but even then it was possible to detect the black specks that represented human beings, waiting for th© trams at the various stopping places. AVRO ON TOUR. Captain Gray is at present giving passenger flights aud flying displays at various country centres. About forty passengers were carried at Springfield on Monday and as many at Sheffield on Tuesday. To-day he is flying at Oxford. He will be at Oust to-morrow and Rangiora on Saturday.