IN TROUBLE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 1

IN TROUBLE.

SMITHY’S PLANE UNDER BAN. Not Considered Airworthy. NAME ANZAC ALSO RULED OUT.

United Press 'Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received July 19, noon.) SYDNEY, July 19. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith is m trouble. His Altair-Lockheed monoplane is being held as a “ prohibitevl import ” at Mascot Aerodrome. Smith}' was told

that he could not ! fly his Lockheed i plane, the engine of j which has been sealed. C a t e g o rically. | Smithy has firstly j failed to satisfy the Customs authorities, secondly he had failed to secure a certificate from the American Chamber of Commerce, and thirdly

he has landed a foreign machine that does not comply with the requirements of the International Convention of Air Navigation. In the meantime Sir Charles’s participation in the Centenary Air Race is in doubt. The machine’s name, Anzac, must be eliminated as the Government regards the word Anzac as sacred to the people, and hopes that Sir Charles will not press his claim to use. that name. Sir Chartes has already 1 had the name painted out and is looking round for another.

As the entry of Sir Charles Kingsfcrd Smith for the Air Race has been accepted by the committee and as the entry form required that details of the type of plane to be used be filled in, the only conclusion to be drawn from the action of the Australian authorities is that the details given by Sir Charles were inaccurate in some particular or that it is a question of local interpretation of the regulations. For a time it looked as if a rigid interpretation of the race rules by the Royal Aero Club of London might bar from the contest specialised racing planes of the type that have put the United States ahead of the rest of the world in long distance speed contests. Negotiations between the aeronautics branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, together with the National Aeronautic Association and the British Club, however, have made it clear that planes of the sort which have been granted the so-called “ R ” license will be eligible. This means that aircraft such as have won the Bendix Trophy for Colonel Roscoe Turner arid Captain James Ilaizlip, the Thompson Trophy for Major James 11. Doolittle, the land plane speed record for Jimmie Wedell, and the round-the-world record for Wiley Post, can make the long trek unencumbered.

American factories, where speed planes are finished to the last touch of sleekness and where super-charged engines are tuned to the last fraction of horse-power, have been busily at work during the past few months grooming equipment for flyers who have made history under the Stars and Stripes. The Altair-Lockheed which Sir Charles Kingsford Smith has chosen is a well-known high-speed American plarie. This machine has a Wasp engine and controllable pitch propeller.