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Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 81, 2 October 1931, Page 7

PIONEERS REMEMBERED,

Quite naturally and rightly it is always the pioneer whose name lives in our memory. Though the Channel is now flown many times a day throughout the yoar, it is Bleriot whom we shall always remember as the Channel flyer par excellence. More pilots than wo can readily remember have now flown between England and Australia, but Ross Smith was -he first pilot who made tho flight, and Hinkler was the first to do it in a light aeroplane. Hinkler's record stood for over two years, and it was a record in so many ways that it will probably always be considered the most remarkable and meritorious of all the flights between the two countries. Kingsford Smith beat Hinklert time last year. This year Scott beat that of Kingsford Smith; and now Mollison has substantially lowered Scott's, record.

In all this succession of great flights, one factor alone seems constant and calculable. That is the human factor. It seems that whatever test of endurance is set, a pilot will be found who will rise to the occasion. These remarkable men can do with a minimum of food and almost entirely without sleep for days on end, and yet can work desperately on overhauls when on the ground and can retain all their faculties and skill to meet the difficulties of flying and in landing. There seems no limit to the calls which can be met by a thoroughly n't human frame. ,We must marvel at each demonstration of this, though even greater feats of enduranco wore accomplished by men, often ordinary privates of the infantry, in tho Great War, and in many previous wars. THE REAL MARVEL. Tho real marvel ia that the machine can so often equal the endurance of the man. ' Tho improvement in the quality of light aero engines has played a great part in the progressive breaking of so many nil1 records. The light aeroplanes themselves have also- improved. The experience^ of the forerunners also tielps each new aspirant at making a new fastest time. These flights are an outward and visible sign of the improvements in tho machine and the engine, and as such do valuable service to the cause of flying. '•

As for the actual record, that is a matter of less importance. Records which are merely records and which' do not teach any valuable lesson are chiefly of interest to the class of mind which gets wildly excited as to whether Sutcliffe or the Nawab of Pataudi is head of tho batting. averages for the season. ITor record purposes we have only been reckoning flights by light aeroplanes, and these,, of course, could easily be beaten by aeroplanes of a.different class. A record by a fast machine would be more useful than a rer cord by a 1 light aeroplane, because it would bring us nearer to: a ..speeding-up of commerce. More useful than that would bo a record in which-the machine ■was flown by relays of, pilots, so that it was only tho machine and engine which were tested and not the human factor. Most useful of all would be a record on tho lines of a rolay race, in which as many machines and pilots took part as was thought desirable, the object being to get a piece of cargo, say, a letter, from England to Australia in the minimum of time.