A GREAT WELCOME.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 935, 4 December 1933, Page 1

A GREAT WELCOME.

New Plymouth Cheers the Aviators. CROWD BREAKS BARRIERS. New Plymouth gave the Faith in Australia and her company a rousing welcome. Tumultuous cheering from the throats of a huge crowd at the aerodrome drowned out the noise of the engines ss Mr Ulm brought the j plane down in a perfect three-point ! landing, almost on the same spot as : that on which Sir Charles Kingsford Smith concluded his flight from Aus- ! tralia in the Southern Cross earlier j this year. Unable to restrain itself in ' its excitement, the crowd broke j through the netting wire barriers marking off the landing area, and crowded j : round the aeroplane eager to greet Mr j | Ulm and his company. Wire failed to | hold the crowd back, but a rope bar- ; rier immediately around the plane ! kept them clear of danger from the whirling propellers until the engines were shut off. Graceful Spectacle. Clouds had hung over New Plymouth in the early part of the morning, but by 9.30 a.m. the sky was almost dear, and a flash of silver wings in the sunlight against the blue enabled the eager crowd waiting at the aerodrome to gain their first glimpse of the Faith in Australia. Piloting the trans-Tasman flyers was a machine from the Westland Federated Aero Club. Heading directly over New Plymouth, Mr Ulm brought his machine j over the aerodrome, and as the roar of i the three engines grew - louder the excitement of the crowd increased. The spectacle made by the graceful macii ine circling low in the sky and under perfect control brought the crowd's delight to its zenith. They were cheering wildly, drowning the roar of the engines as the plane circled the aerodrome, gradually losing height, and Anally coming gracefully to earth, a perfect landing marking the conclusion of a great flight and the fourth conquest of the Tasman Sc a by Now beside themselves with delight and excitement, the crowd broke through the netting-wire barriers and rushed the landing point to greet the flyers with sincere and wholehearted enthusiasm as they stepped out of the cabin and set foot on New Zealand soil.