TURIN TO LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 88, Issue 13659, 13 December 1917, Page 2

TURIN TO LONDON

ITALIAN AIRMAN'S FINE FLIGHT. A remarkable fine feat was achieved by Captain Marquess Giulio Laureati, of the Italian Air Service, who for the first time completed the journev from Italy to England bv air without a stop. He left Turin at 8.28 (Italian time) on Monday morning, and landed at Hounslow at 2.50 in the afternoon, having completed a journey of 1050 kilometres (656£ miles) in seven hours 22 minutes and 30 seconds.

Captain Laureati flew an S.I*A.. machine, and carried a passenger, Air Mechanic Michael Augelo Tonzo, and two machine guns. From Turin he followed the railway as far as Susa, on the Italian frontier. Crossing the Alps by the Mont Ccnis at an altitude of nearly 12,000 ft., he passed over Lanslebourg and rejoined the railway at Modane. During the crossing of the Alps he encountered tough weather, and throughout tile whole of the journey he had to face a strong northwesterly wind. • From Modane, still following the line of the railway, the airman travelled north-west to Culoz, which he reached in 1 hour 40min. from Turin, and continuing on the same line passed over Verdun-sur-Doubs. He crossed the Cote d'Or, and'proceeded by way of Flavigny and Bussy across the Seine and the Marne, passing to the east of Paris, and completing his transit of France by way of Compiegne Amiens, and Cap Gris Nez. Throughout this part of the journev he kept an average height of about 9900 ft. He crossed the Channel in 15 minutes, dropped 2000 ft. to pick up his bearings at Lympne, and completed his journey to HfHinslow without misadventure, except for a slight detour made in error over Hendon. A Letter for the King. He carried with him, in addition to copies of Monday morning's issue of the Gazeta del Popolo. an autograph letter from his Kins to King George, and letters to Mr Lloyd George and others. Ho was none the worse for the journey. The Italian officers and British airmen carried him shoulder high from his machine, amid much cheering, and before he left the aerodrome* he was enthusiastically greeted by numbers of British flying men and mechanics. During the flight he took food from a bottle fastened inside his coat and fitted with a rubber tube like an infant's feeding bottle, but he landed with a hearty appetitte.