Mr Chichester Faced Many Difficulties On His Flight.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18992, 11 February 1930, Page 3

Mr Chichester Faced Many Difficulties On His Flight.

WITH LITTLE EXPERIENCE, HE STARTED OUT ON JOURNEY OF 10,000 MILES

TIIE New Zealand airman who flew from to Sydney, reached Wellington by the Maunganui 10-day, and was given a great reception.

A message from London, dated De- [ cember 20 of last year, stated that Mr [ F. C. Chichester, formerly of the Air Force, flying a Moth ’plane, left Croydon secretly. It was stated that he in--1 tended to fly to Australia in an attempt to beat Bert Hinkler’s record. He unexpectedly arrived at Croydon at midnight, and only a handful of aeroj drome officials saw the take-off of the t 'plane in brilliant moonlight at 3 a.m. l and in perfect flying conditions. He i shouted, “ Cheerio! I am off to Ausi tralia!” and it was understood that his > first stop would be Lyons, beyond inl forming a New Zealand friend and the ; Dominion’s representative in England, ’ Squadron-Leader T. M. Wilkes. Mr Chichester had only been flying for ; three months. He is a son of the rector : of Shirwell, and comes from Wellington. “ I will break one of three things,” he said, “ the record, the machine or myself. If I break Hinkler’s record, I hope to fly on to Wellington Australia has done splendidly in the air, and I want to do something for New Zealand.” Mr Chichester's father was most sur--1 ation of the regulations restricting publication of details of recent designs would be advantageous. With regard to Mr Fairev’s state- ! ment that last year £1,000.000 had been ! voted for the United States postal ser- ! vice. Major C. C. Turner, the “ Daily 1 Telegraph ” Aviation correspondent, has pointed out that a deficit of £1,000,000 has resulted from this year's opera- j tions.

! prised at the flight, and his aunt, with whom he. was staying, did not know he was leaving. He filled the passenger’s * \ seat with extra petrol tanks, thus in- - creasing the range of his ’plane by more - than 1000 miles. The ’plane was not . equipped with wireless, and no plans : were made to report progress, Chichester intending to push on as far as pos- ■ sible each day. i Domestic Tragedy. The flight which started so auspici- ; ously on December 20 was rudely disturbed on December 21 by the report ; of the death of Mrs Chichester, in Wel- ’ lington. Mr Chichester’s home, where he and his wife and three children had lived before he went to England, was at Lower Hutt. His wife had not accompanied him. Efforts were made to ' advis . e him of his bereavement. It was anticipated, however, that considerable difficulty would be experienced in getting into touch with him in view of the doubt which existed as to the route he was taking. Mr Chichester arrived at Lyons at 10.22 a.m., refuelled, and left at 1110 a.m. for Tunis. On December 21, a landing was made at Catania (Sicily) and Chichester continued his journey at 12.55 p.m.' : Forced Landing. A mesage from Rome, dated De cember 22, stated that Mr Chichester ; j had made a forced landing in the 1 marshes in Tripoli. He was unhurt but his machine was damaged. Fog ] prevented him seeing adjacent bea- ! ; cons.

The message stated that the flight to New Zealand had been abandoned as a result of the damage to the ’plane. A later message from London stated that the propeller and one of the interplane struts had been broken, and a delay of about a fortnight would be occasioned until a new propeller could be secured from the De Haviland firm The damage, however, turned out to be not as serious as had been anticipated, and Mr Chichester found that he would be able to continue the flight as soon as the ’plane was repaired.

On the Way Again. On January 9, after a break of eighteen days, it was reported from Tripoli that Mr Chichester had departed in the morning for Bengazi, in a strong southerly wind. Flying was being undertaken in daylight only, although the airman was anxious to reach his home in New Zealand. There was no news of him crossing Arabia, but on January 16 it was reported from Delhi that Mr Chichester had arrived at Karachi from Shahbar, late, on Tuesday morning, and in a very tired condition. He left the next morning expecting to reach Calcutta by midday. The night was spent at Jhansi, and a flight of 700 miles in 61 hours was made to the Dum Dum Aerodrome, Calcutta. This was a record achievement for a small 'plane over the most difficult part of India. Rangoon was reached at 7.15 in the evening of January 17, and Mr Chichester left the following morning for Singapore. Singapore reached, he left for Batavia, and a message from Weltevreden dated January 22 stated that he had left for Rampang on the island of Lombom. A later message stated that, owing to bad weather, the ’plane had landed at Tegal, three hours’ flight from Batavia. He will arrive at Darwin on January 25. Hinkler’s Record Flight. On February 22, 1928, when Bert Hinkler landed at Port Darwin, there ended one of the most spectacular flights in aviation history. Fifteen and a half days were occupied in the journey, which covered 10,340 miles—England to Australia—and was accomplished in a two-seater Avro Avian. Mr Hinkler, who is an Australian, travelled very light, for instance, taking only

a few sandwiches and a flask as provisions on each stage of the journey. His journey to India was said to be a record for cheapness, the total cost being under £25. On completion of the last lap of his journey, Bima— Port Darwin, a distance of 950 miles, Hinkler was given a rousing reception Bert Hinkler’s feat was received with great satisfaction in England, and Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary for Air, expressed his official appreciation in the following message: ‘‘Your flight from London to Australia in fifteen days’ flying, unaccompanied, in a light aeroplane, is one further proof of what British pilots and British aircraft can do to link up the Empire by air.” Hinkler left Croydon Aerodrome at dawn on Febniary 7 and landed at Port Darwin at six o’clock in the evening of February 22 (Australian time). Mr Hinkler not only easily beat the record made by Sir Ross Smith and Sir Keith Smith, who in 1919 flew from England to Australia in twenty-eight days, but also accomplished his feat in a remarkable manner. He made no big preparations, had no financial support and his aeroplane was not a big, high-powered machine, but an ordinary light machine, such as anyone could buy for £675. The machine had been used by Hinkler for the previous eighteen months for touring England and northern Europe, and had proved its capability and reliability in air races, having won many prizes. It was estimated that the cost of the flight was only £so—less than that of travelling to Australia by sea. Mr Hinkler made the first non-stop flight from London to Rome, and also the fastest journey between England and India. The latter he accomplished in seven days, which is ‘of itself an epoch-making achievement.

Final Stage of Flight. Mr Hinkler started from Bima at four o’clock in the morning. He had a tricky climb over the mountains with a full load and then made for the open sea. He passed Koepang about 10.30 a.m. but did not stop at Timor. His first sight of Australia was Bathurst Island at 5.40 p.m., having covered 1000 miles during the day. He averaged ninety-two miles an hour from Bima and had good weather. Sir Ross Smith and Sir Keith Smith made a flight in stages from England to Australia in 124 flying hours, in a twin-engined Vickers biplane, in No-vember-December, 1919, covering 11,295 miles in their pioneer flight

Sir Alan Cobham flew from England to Australia and return, a distance of 28,000 miles, in 230 flying hours, in 1926, in a de Haviland biplane. Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith, C. T. P. Ulm, W. M’Williams and H. A. Litchfield flew in the Southern Cross from Australia to England in 12 days 21} hours in the Folcker monoplane Southern Cross, on June 27-July 11, 1929 a distance of 10,500 miles. Interesting Letter. An interesting letter describing his schooling as a pilot has been received by Mr Goodwin of the Goodwin, Chichester Aviation Company, from his partner, Mr F. C. Chichester. It was written prior to leaving on his attempt to beat Bert Hinkler’s record to Australia. Mr Goodwin said that Mr Chichester does not intend to fly from Australia to New Zealand. He would not be foolish enough for that. He only learnt to fly after going Home and at the time of writing had had four months’ experience. totalling actually 160 hours’ flying. He used to fly at two o’clock every morning to get experience of night flying, of which he would have so much to do on fhe trip to Australia. Mr Chichester had prepared for the trip maps measuring seventy-one feet some inches on a one-millionth scale. A total of 1300 gallons of petrol had been put down for him by the Shell Company along the route, and it would cost him half a crown a gallon if he did not beat the record.