GOAL IN SIGHT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 123, 22 February 1928, Page 11

GOAL IN SIGHT

HINKLER REACHES JAVA FINAL STAGE COMMENCES TO-DAY By Telegraph.—Press Association. Copyright. Weltevreden (Java), February 20. Hinkler arrived this afternoon from London, via Singapore, bound for Australia. (Rec. February 21, 7.5 p.m.) Weltevreden (Java), February 21. Hinkler left Bandoeng at dawn for Bima, and departs thence for Darwin to-morrow if the weather is favourable. —A.I’.A. and “Sun.” A REMARKABLE FEAT Rugby, February 20. By arriving at Singapore yesterday, only thirteen days after leaving London, Captain Hinkler has obtained for British aviation a remarkable new world’s record. Hinkler has kept to his programme of long hops with absolute regularity, and by covering over 8000 miles he has accomplished the longest solo flight ever made in any ma. chine, and made the Loudon-Singapore journey in the quickest time on record. This he has done with a light British Avro Avian aeroplane, with Cirrus engine of only 28 horse-power. He has encountered mixed weather during the flight, and lias passed from extreme cold during the earlier part of the journey to tropical heat, which made the wings of the machine too hot to touch.

In flying from Victoria Point, Burma, to Singapore yesterday, a distance of nearly 900 miles, Captain Hinkler met violent rain storms. He hopes to reach Port Darwin on Wednesday, in which event he will have fulfilled his original intention of flying to Australia in eighteen days with a safe margin. He hopes to continue his flight to his home at Bundaberg, Queensland. His little machine costs about 21d. a mile to fly.—British Official Wireless.