CIRCLED THE GLOBE.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18166, 3 November 1930, Page 3

CIRCLED THE GLOBE.

KINGSFORD SMITH RECORD “THE WORLD’S GREATEST FLIER.” Wing Commander Kingsford Smith, who recently completed his flight from England to Australia, has earned the title of ‘'The World’s Greatest Flier.” ... He was the first airman completely to circle the globe in the one ’plane —the Southern Cross —the only pilot to flv across the Pacific from America to Australia, and the first to fly from Australia to New Zealand and back. In addition, he possesses a chain of records for similar flights, many of which were made on his recent journey from England. Though he had flying experience during the war, and later as a pilot for the West, Austsralian Airways, Ltd , it was not until 1927 that Kingsford Smith came prominently into public notice when he flew around Australia in ten days. Finance Troubles. He then, with Mr C. T. P. Ulm, turned his thoughts to the ambitious task of crossing the Pacific by air at a time when Pacific flights were particularly unpopular, owing to the. heavy death roll in the .disastrous air race from San Francisco to Honolulu. Because of, this, and the general financial stringency, it was very hard to finance the attempt, but eventually Sir Hubert Wilkins, anxious to .aid his fellow-countrymen, agreed to sell them the two machines which he had used in the Arctic two years before. These were dismantled, and the Southern Cross was assembled from their parts. Pacific Conquered. With Ulm' and himself as pilots, and H. Lyon and J.. Warner, both Americans as navigator and radio operator respectively, Kingsford Smith started ' his Pacific flight on .July 1, 1928, and reached Brisbane on July 9. The non-stop sections of Lhe flight were: Oakland airport to Honolulu, 2420 miles; Honolulu to Barking Sands, 122 miles; Barking Sands to Suva, 3290 miles; and Suva to Brisbane, 1825 miles. The short flight from Honolulu to Barking Sands was necessary because the runway at Honolulu w’as too short to allow the . giant monoplane to take off when loaded with the quantity of petrol required for the long hop to Suva. ' The intrepid pilot’s next long nonstop flights were from Melbourne to Perth and from Perth to Sydney, the second of these breaking the Australian 1 record established by the first. Tasman Both Ways. . A month later, again accompanied by Ulm, and with H. A. Litchfield as navigator and T. H. McWilliams as wireless operator, he crossed the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.. This was a 1660 miles flight, short compared'with his Pacific performance, but made very dangerous by weather conditions, and one which no _ other pilot has ever, achieved. The weather took a hand during the return flight, and the airmen, atfer sighting the Australian coast, became lost in blinding rain, and eventually, landed at Richmond with petrol practically exhausted. Atlantic Battle. iLast year, in the same old Southern Cross, Kingsford Smith and Ulm flew from Australia to England, and some months later, Kingsford Smith flew the Atlantic from east to west, but was forced, after a long battle with adverse winds, to land in Newfoundland instead of in New A'ork, as he had" intended. He went on to New York.

This was the last ocean flight of the Southern Cross, but the pilot completed a circuit of the world by flying the veteran machine to Oakland, the place from which he had set out on his Pacific flight.