GREAT AIR JOURNEY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 106, 6 May 1929, Page 8

GREAT AIR JOURNEY

THROUGH! HEART OF AFRICA GIANT FOKKER MACHINE CAPETOWN, March 2. I Passengers alighting from a Huei I could not have been more spick and span than Air Van Lear Black, the | American millionaire aviator, and his pilots when they stepped out of their I giant Fokker aeroplane after flying i rmn London tu Capetown. ' From Cairo, through the heart of ! Africa, and down through Rhodesia J and the Union, the aeroplane travelled j without striking unpleasant weather. I“1 have not found Africa hot. In fact, the only thing we lacked in the '.air was more overcoats,” was Mr i Black’s comment on the weather. | “Flying in the stormy weather in [ Europe, 1 could nut keep my seat in ‘ my basket, chair in the saloon on my 'machine. I was often thrown up t’-t.ni 'tli<* seat, and my head knocked t'?e ceiling, but,” he said, “in Africa 1 i have sat in perfect comfort, reading I 1 and sleeping when the scenery has not kept m<- at the window.’» Mr Black says he is anxious to refute the idea of his machine being a | luxury aeroplane. “Those who have .said that 1. am flying purely for pleasure,” he said, “are missing the 'point altogether, for L am out to show I that flying is as sound a means of communication as steamships or trains. 1 •set out to prove my case 18 moulhs ■ago. and 1 have shown that this piano I could pay for its keep and return a • good dividend Aly object is now to I see as much of the world as possible, jl am 25 years older than any one of jmy friends who fly with me, but I host* ! wlio have said that I intend spending : tin- rest of my life in pleasure ar ‘ wrong.” \ Ihe Fokker is a self-contained unit. t It is capable of carrying a commercial loa-l of two and a-half lons. All • spares that could be wanted on Al* Black’s journeys are carried in the ; luggage apartment and. should a forcicd landing with damage occur at any j point on his route, temporary repairs ; could bp carried out. I “While I am in the air the pilot is ithp boss, ” said Air Black. “Ever ; s»n«-.- T tried flying a machine myself i from London tn Paris I have yduck to this principle.”