AIRMEN HONOURED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 660, 13 January 1933, Page 5

AIRMEN HONOURED.

Tasman Flyers Entertained by Aero Club. COMPLIMENTARY DINNER. Per Press Association. NEW PLYMOUTH. January 12. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and the crew and passengers of the Southern Cross were the guests of the New Plymouth Aero Club at a complimentary dinner to-night. Many members of North Island aero clubs and representatives of Taranaki institutions were present to honour the three members of the crew and the two passengers. The Mayor of New Plymouth, Mr H. V. S. Griffiths, in proposing the toast of “ Sir Charles Ivingsford-Smith and his Companions,” said that Sir Charles’s decision tq make New Ptymouth his first landing place in New Zealand was influenced by its geographical situation and the fact that there was such a landing mark as Mount Egmont. When he decided to come to New Zealand, he tried to land at the nearest possible point, said Sir Charles. Cape Egmont was closer than anywhere else. Taranaki was in a fine position geographically in being so close to Australia, and it would be the ultimate terminal in the trans-Tasman service that was bound to be established. It might be ten years or longer, but it would ultimately come. Sir Charles paid a tribute to the crew and the ground mechanics who made the job so easy. The Cory Wright Navigation Cup, open for competition among members of all New Zealand aero clubs, was presented by Sir Charles to Mr E. Meredith, a pilot of the New Plymouth Club. The Southern Cross will make a flight of 100 miles round Mount Egmont on Saturday morning, and will leave on Monday for Rotorua. AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE. SYDNEY. January 12. Addressing the Legacy Club, Captain Morris, the presidc-nL, paid a tribute to the success of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith’s New Zealand flight. He advocated that the Federal Government should go out of its way to secure his services. It was a crying shame, he said, that mpn of his calibre should have to seek fresh fields for a livelihood. His exploits were too wonderful and too well known to need any repetition.