MOLLISON HOPES TO REDUCE RECORD BY DAY AND HALF.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 185, 6 August 1931, Page 1

MOLLISON HOPES TO REDUCE RECORD BY DAY AND HALF.

Forced to Turn Bach by Bad Weather; Still Ahead of Time. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received August 6,11 a.m.) ROME, August 5. Mr J. A. Mollison has arrived here and leaves for London at 11 o’clock to-night. Bad weather forced the airman to return to Aleppo when on the flight to Athens. He restarted after midnight and arrived at Athens in excellent spirits. He said that barring mishaps, he was confident of knocking a day and a half off Mr C. W. A. Scott’s record of 10 days 23 hours. Reports of his progress encourage the hopes expressed in to-night's London papers that Mr Mollison will succeed in keeping to his schedule, and will complete his Right to-morrow in a final stage from Rome to Croydon, beating the previous record by a day and a half.

LINDBERGHS FLYING IN ARCTIC CIRCLE. FAST TRIP MADE OVER NORTH-WEST CANADA. (Received August 6, 9.45 a.m.) VANCOUVER, August 5. A message from Aklavik, North West Territories, states that Colonel and Mrs Lindbergh landed there at 6.5 a.m. today, completing an 1100-mile hop in eleven hours and a-half. Every resident of the busy little Arctic hamlet on the delta of the Mackenzie River, cheered the flyers. They will probably remain overnight before proceeding to Port Barrow, Alaska. TWO AIR CRASHES OCCUR IN HOLLAND. SIX HURT WHEN BIG MACHINE HITS A POLE. ROTTERDAM. August 4. A military aeroplane crashed and the pilot and sergeant were killed. At Amsterdam, a Dutch air liner crashed into a signal pole and was destroyed. A boy playing in the field and five women passengers w r ere seriously AMY JOHNSON NOW NEARING DESTINATION. (Received August 6, 9 a.m.) LONDON, August 4. A message from Manchuli states that Miss Amy Johnson flew over the Russo- j Chinese frontier, making for Harbin, j She made a safe landing at Keijo. Miss Johnson left Lympne (England) before dawn on July 29 on an attempt to fly to Japan in record time. She was accompanied by Mr John Humphreys, chief ground engineer of the Stag Lane aerodrome. Her progress over Berlin and Moscow was rapid, but on July 31 she was forced down about 500 miles east of Moscow, since when there has been no further report until to-day. LATVIAN AIRMAN MAKES DROP OF FOUR MILES. RIGA, August 4. Lieutenant Peterson claims a European record for a parachute descent of 20,400 feet. The descent took fifteen minutes, during which the parachute drifted five miles.

NORTH PACIFIC DASH WILL BE ATTEMPTED. PANGHORN AND HERNDON CHANGE THEIR PLANS. (Received August 6, 12.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 5. Clyde Panghorn and Hugh Herndon, who have abandoned their attempt to set a new record for a round-the-world flight, have advised their headquarters from Khabarovsk, Siberia, that they have definitely announced that an attempt will be made to fly non-stop fjpm Tokio to Seattle. They will put ah' extra tank in their 'plane at Tokio. FATALITY MARS TEST OF FAST AEROPLANE. NOTED ITALIAN PILOT KILLED AT LAKE GARDA. ROME", August 4. It is now revealed that Flight-Cap-tain Dal Monti, who was killed through a crash on Lake Garda, was flying one of two new Fiat machines which was capable of reaching 400 miles an flour. It had been specially constructed for the Schneider Cup contest. Salvage efforts have proved fruitless. The machine is lying at a depth of 300 feet. BOMBING MACHINE FALLS ON DISTILLERY. OBSERVER, BECOMING OVER-EXCITED, KILLED. PRAGUE. August 4. Flying at an altitude of 6000 feet, a heavy bombing aeroplane caught fire. The pilot made a safe landing by using his parachute, but the observer, becoming over-excited, opened his parachute too early and was killed. The machine fell on the roof of a distillery which, with an adjoining shop, caught fire. CHICHESTER LANDS ON FIELD IN FORMOSA. (Received August 6, 11 a.m.) TOKIO, August 5. Mr F. C. Chichester passed over Karenko and Taihoku and landed at Tamsui in north-western Formosa, this afternoon. Mr Chichester, when interviewed, stated that he had been delayed owing to slight damage to a float. He is leaving for Shanghai at seven o’clock to-morrow morning.