AIRMEN INTERVIEWED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 8

AIRMEN INTERVIEWED

TEN HOURS’ SLEEP SINCE ENGLAND ( LOI SION’S REUNION W ITH FAMILY ( Per Press Associatfon. ] BLENHEIM, March 20. Although neither Mr Clouston or Mr Ricketts had had more than ten hours’ .sleep since they left England last Wednesday morning, they looked remarkably fresh on landing at Blenheim and made light of what would be a trying ordeal under any circumstances, but which was made doubly so on account of bad luck in regard to weather all through. Mr Clouston, on whom the greatest responsibility devolved, looked a little tired about the eyes, but his general buoyancy of spirit was evidence of the stamina which has won for him in the Air Force the sobriquet of “Iron Man.” When the formalities of arrival had been completed this afternoon, Mr Clouston had a long-looked-for talk with his own people and the principal topic of conversation was where they would spend the night. Coot Strait Airways had generously offered to place a liner at the disposal of the Clouston family to fly them home and notwithstanding what he had already been through Mr Clouston was quite ready to undertake the trip, returning to Blenheim in the morning for the take-off. However, Mr Clouston, senr., inquired what sleep he had had. “We had a good sleep in Sydney last night,” replica the aviator. “We were five hours in bed.” That settled the question and the flyer’s mother promptly decided that her son should not undergo further strain am a decision was made to spend the night at a hote,’. her? enabling Mr Clouston to devote time in the morning to a check-up on the machine, besides giving him a precious few hours alone with his people. When they replied to the welcome, both arrivals were in cheerful mood and made light of their recent accomplishment. Mr Clouston expressed pleasure at being in Blenheim and appreciation of the welcome. “Our great aim was to beat the record of Scott and the late Campbell Black, but owing to strong head winds and really filthy weather we were well ( behind the time at Darwin, so we ■ had four hours’ sleep before proceed- | ing to Sydney,” he said. With Blen- ■ heim counting as the capital, he i added smilingly, they had broken the I record from England and hoped to i break others before they reached i home again.

j Mr Clouston described the flight as . “notning marvellous,” declaring that I thousands of pilots in the Air Force ■ and many in New Zealand could have ■ done exactly the same, but it was I just that they had a lucky machine . and had come along smoothly. He paid a tribute to his first instructor, : Squadron-Leader Chandler, who had taught him to fly with the Marlborough Aero Club. “And a very bad •.pupil I was, too,” he added. It was such men as Chandler and “poor old Smithy’’ who did the real work lor aviation.

Mr Clouston concluded by inviting Mr Ricketts to tell the rest of the story, after describing how his very efficient co-pilot had divided his spare time between tapping out stories on a typewriter and munching apples. Mr Ricketts modestly contended that he was only a passenger on the trip. “He’s the big shot,” he said, nodding towards his companion. “All the way across the world, Clou has been saying he wanted to get to New Zealand and he was most unhappy when he thought he wouldn’t be able to get across. This morning when wt left the Australian coast he rubbed his hands together and said, ‘This is the moment I've been waiting for for months.’ ”