RACE ROUND WORLD

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 84, 3 January 1935, Page 7

RACE ROUND WORLD

Great Air Contest Planned ROUTE BEING CONSIDERED London, January 1. A race round the world Jor practically unrestricted aircraft ■' has been planned for 1938 by English and American sporting interests, which are at present surveying possible routes. The most favoured course appears to be across the Atlantic to Britain and thence to India, Australia, the Far East, and Alaska, but the .Suva-Hono-lulu route has also received attention. REMARKABLE RECORD Air Force Squadrons FEWER ACCIDENTS IN 1934 (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, January 1. Royal Air Force Squadrons achieved a remarkable new flying record in the 12 months /just ended. Service aeroplanes flew a total distance of at least 47,000,000 miles, a greater mileage than in any previous year since the war. Despite this distance record, serious accidents were considerably fewer than in previous years and actually fewer than in 1921, when the Royal Air Force was about one-third of its present size and flew little more than a tenth of the distance covered last year. The new record is all the- more striking in view of increased flying last year in air exexcises and manoeuvres conducted ,as far as possible under active service conditions' and often at night. Moreover, the R.A.F. performs patrol and policing duties over 1,000,000 square miles of territory, and flies daily in three continents; much of the time in bad weather and over perilous country, where engine failure must involve serious consequences.

Air Vice-Marshal Newall has been appointed an additional member of the Air Council, and he will be responsible for the administration of the directorates of organisation, equipment, and works and buildings. He was appointed Air Officer commanding the R.A.F. in the middle of 1931.

« SAVED BY SAFETY BELT

Pilot in New Guinea Crash

Pilot Donald Crisp, who crashed while flying from Salamoa to Wau, in New Guinea, related his experiences in an interview. He said that he encountered a storm and down currents prevented his plane rising, and when the crash occurred over Bitoi Gorge the engine, cargo and forepart of the cabin of his plane fell 70 feet. His safety belt held him to the rear portion of the plane, which remained suspended to trees. After some time he descended and, after being unable to attract the attention of passing planes by waving from the tops of trees, which he climbed, he returned to the ground and shot at the petrol tank, anticipating that a fire would attract the attention of the Salamoa and Lae planes searching for him. His matches were wet, but, gathering up fragments of cargo, he eventually made a fire. The down currents, however, dispersed the smoke and his signals were - unsuccessful. He made a rough shelter on the following night, but intense cold was followed by a storm. In the morning be walked until he found Reynolds’s camp at Black Cat at midday. From there runners were dispatched to acquaint the search parties.