LIGHT 'PLANE TESTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16545, 14 July 1925, Page 8

LIGHT 'PLANE TESTS.

20 GERMANS FLY 605 MILES

IN 17 HOURS.

(From a Correspondent.)

BERLIN, June 1

At 4 a.m. to-day 90 aeroplanes rose from the Tempclhof Field, Berlin's flying ground, and set out in a bee-line for Schwerin, intending afterwards to follow the route by Hamburg, Bremen, Munster, Cassel, and Magdeburg, and finally to return to Berlin.

By 2 o'clock, 10 hours later, the winner of to-day's race, Herr Bellik, in a Udet machine with a GO-h.p. Siemens motor, had landed again at the Tempclhof. The distance, covered had been GOS miles. (Mr Alan Cobham, the famous British airman, described a few days ago his 1000 miles flight on Friday from London to -Zurich and back in a 27-h.p. British aeroplane in 14 hours.) The second aeroplane to return arrived at 3.19 p.m., Pilot Hochmut, also in a Udet machine with a 55-h.p. Siemens motor.

By 0 p.m. 20 of the 90 aeroplanes had reached Tempclhof. No accidents have been reported. This is Ihe first of a scries of five flights around Germany to b? held' in the next 10 days, each representing 625 miles or more. The start in each case is from Berlin. The competition is intended to prove the utility of the light aeroplane. "The competitors are divided into three groups, according to whether their motors arc less than 40, 80 or 120 h.p. Five machines carried Blackburn engines of only 14-i-h.p. Prizes amounting to £20.000 are announced. Speed will count for less in earning points than reliability. For this event, said to be the greatest aeroplane competition ever organised, great crowds, which included the ex-Crown Prince, went out to Tempclhof this morning, where no fewer than 30 refreshment booths had been set up. Hardly a cloud was to be seen, and only a very mild wind was blowing. Many foreign guesis in large aeroplanes arrived yesterday and followed the competitors.