CENTENARY AIR RACE.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 213, 17 September 1934, Page 5

CENTENARY AIR RACE.

“SMITHY’S” PREPARATIONS

for THE GREAT EVENT

While in Australia, Mr W. A. Waters, of Palmerston North, who returned on Saturday, spent some time at Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s hangar at Mascot aerodrome. He inspected, the Lady Southern Cross and saw various tests being carried out, together with the tuning-up process prior to the record-breaking flights to Perth and back. Sir Charles was somewhat worried over the certificate of airworthiness, but hoped to have the difficulty straightened out shortly. He proposed flying a leisurely trip to England, starting on September 25, but, as Sir Charles remarked, a leisurely trip to England in his new bus was only a matter of seven days. In order to rapidly fill several hundreds of gallons of petrol aboard the competing planes, the oil companies have built special tank wagons, complete with floodlights and capable of pumping in the petrol at the rate of 95 gallons a minute. One will be stationed at Darwin and one at Charlesville, while the Australian Navy will be patrolling the Timor Sea, which is a 500-mile water crossing.

Asked if he thought he would win the race, Sir Charles replied that if he didn’t the winner at least would know he had been flying.—" Manawatu Times.”