IN THE AIR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 9

IN THE AIR

THE SPEED RECORD I INTEREST IN BRITISH ATTEMPT [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, Oct. 4. The weather has not been entirely favourable for further trial flights on the super-marine Napier P 5 seaplane, in which LT’ght-Lieut. Creig will at temp' to set up a new speed record. Creig is still at Calshot. near .Southampton, where the flight will be made. In view of the public interest in the proposed attempt, arrangements have been m:n ■ by the British Broa<k?a>ting Com. ..ny to broadcast an expert sye-wiluc.-s’ account of the flight hen it takes place. ALTITUDE RECORD LADY HEATH’S FEAT [ British Official Wireless. J RUGBY, Oct. 4. Lady Heath, the famous woman aviator, formerly Mrs Elliott Lynn, broke the solo altitude record at Croydon to-day, reaching over 26,000 feet, or nearly five miles. She accomplished the feat in a Moth aeroplane fitted with a Cirrus engine. The altitude was recorded by a sealed barograph in the tail of the machine. The previous British official height record was one of 20,000 feet made by Captain De Haviland. The greatest unofficial recorded height in this country w as attained just after the war in a D.H. Napier bombing ’plane by Captain Lang, who reached 30,000 feet. Lady Heath took twenty-six minutes to reach the maximum altitude, but only ten minutes to return to earth. She said frost formed outside her goggles. It was so cold that her engine stopped, or she could have gone higher. The visibility was won iderful. She saw the coast of France from high above Croydon Heat a. She carried two sealed barographs which automatically recorded the height.

AVIATOR SAFE FAMOUS GERMAN FLIER T Australian Press Assn.—United Service] DELHI, Oct. 4. A delayed telegram from Mandalay states that Baron von Huenefeld was held up there owing to the sodden state of the ground rendering a take-off impossible.