NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 34, 10 February 1930, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN

MR CHICHESTER IN SYDNEY END OF AN EPIC FLIGHT ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME "I am only a ‘mug’ flyer, and my one aim now is to get back to New Zealand and knuckle down to work,” said Mr F. C. Chichester, the New Zealand aviator, to the group of New Zealanders who welcomed him when he stepped out of his Moth aeroplane at the Mascot Aerodrome, Sydney, last Thursday week. The remark was characteristic of the modest aviator. He depreciated his Hight of 36 days from Croydon to Darwin and makes light of the obstacles and of the disappointment of a delay of 18 days in Tripoli with a broken propeller. Mr Chichester, who became “Chick” to members of the New South Wales Aero Club and tho New Zealand visitors before he had been lo minutes on the ground, would not talk of the rigours of 13,000 lonely air miles. He could speak only of Hinkler, the pioneer, whom he considered had blazed the trail that many could follow, deserving little praise. "It would be suicide to attempt to cross the Tasman, as my petrol capacity would allow a margin of only 50 miles on an air line, and the Moth will go with me on the boat as soon as possible,” said the aviator. Some of Australia’s finest aviators smiled at Mr Chichester’s modesty. They appreciated what he had faced in one "hop” of 876 miles across the North African desert from Benbazi and in a 10-hour non-stop flight from Burma to Singapore. When, fresh from these experiences, Mr* Chichester spoke of getting down to real work in New Zealand it gave one an epitome of the man.

A Boisterous Welcome Mr Chichester came out of the sky to Mascot on schedule time. A dozen machines escorted him in. Thirty-five New Zealanders gave him a welcome almost as boisterous as the greeting of the many hundreds who had no native interest in the aviator. The flyer was lifted from his machine, a sunburnt, bespectacled figure. One of the shoulders which bore him to the platform was that of Mr Wiremu Rangi, of Gisborne, who led the New Zealand Association in a haka before tho formalities commenced. Mr Chichester did not feel comfortable about the formalities. "What can I say? It was all so little beside what has been done before,” he whispered to those who pushed him into prominence.

Tho Attorney-General, Mr F. Boyce, K.C., spoke for the New South Wales Ministry. "This is a brave gentleman who comes with no display and an entire absence of trumpets,” he said. "We appreciate your initiative and courage, and I assure you that the people of Sydney are particularly delighted that you are a resident of the little islands which lie so close to our continent,” said the Chief City Commissioner, Mr Garlick. "I do not deserve such a reception, and there are so many New Zealand pilots who would jump at any chance of making this flight,” said Mr Chichester. "Them’s our sentiments,” said the Mayor of Mascot in presenting an illuminated address complimenting tho aviator on his "pluck, persistence and resourcefulness. ’ ’

With a small gathering Mr Chichester settled down to a pipe in the Aero Club quarters. "I was pretty awful and ten instructors had a ‘go’ at me,” he said in reference to the fact that he did not secure an air pilot’s license until last August. "It took mo 25 hours’ dual instruction before I was allowed to go solo”—a common average is 10 hours. * A Remarkable Venture "I have never learnt navigation, but what more does one want beyond a good compass,” the airman said. "Of course, my flying was more or less a process of trial and error. I had 35yds of strip map which 1 arranged before I left England. I carried a tin of biscuits under the seat, sandwiches under the compass, coffee and tea in a vacuum flask, a litre of wine and a quart of water. But there was nothing so welcome as the beer at Darwin when I climbed out and felt Australia under my feet.” Although Mr Chichester’s journey was not fast, it was one of the remarkable ventures in aviation history. With only four months* flying experience he undertook the lonely trip. After starting he learned of the death in New Zealand of his young wife. There was the slight smash in Tripoli, some bad weather and a four-hour flight across the ocean to Darwin. Mr James Moir, one of the pioneers in England-Australian flights, stood by while Mr Chichester faced the hundredth handshake. "No,” he said, "there is nothing of the 'mug flver’ about Chick.’•