GOODWILL FLIGHT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20052, 26 September 1939, Page 14

GOODWILL FLIGHT

JAPANESE PLANE SPONSORED P.Y PAPERS News has been received by the Consul-General for Japan at Wellington, Mr. K. Gunji, that the Japanese aeroplane Nippon left Tokio on August 29 oil a round-the world goodwill flight, to occupy a month, during which nearly 30 nations are to be visited. The flight is being sponsored by two famous Japanese daily newspapers, the Osaka, Mainichi and the Tokio Nichi Nichi, which are jointly owned. Tiic Mitsubishi twininotored transport monoplane Nippon, pictured on this page, is one of a number of planes owned and operated by these newspapers. The flight,, it is claimed, marks the greatest aviation project in the world ever ventured upon by a newspaper organisation. The Nippon will traverse three oceans and five continents, and will cross the Equator twice, making the longest journey yet accomplished by one aeroplane and one crew.

The Nippon's course is from Tokio across the North Pacific Ocean to Nome, Alaska, and thence, with various stops, to Los Angeles. It will then cross to Kansas City ■ and New York. The subsequent route will be to Washington, Miami, and down the west coast of South America to Santiago do Chile. The plane will next cross the South American continent to Buenos Aires and will fly up the east coast to cross the South Atlantic Ocean to Dakar, on the west coast of Africa. The subsequent itinerary, which included a visit to London, Paris, and Berlin, owing to the European war, will now be modified and the route eastward to Japan will be subject to necessary alterations. Well-Equipped Planes The Nippon has a wing-span of about 80ft., and the fuselage length is about 52ft. The Mitsubishi Gold Star twin motors develop 900 h.p. each and propel t-Tii plane at a cruising speed of about 163 m.p.h. The plane is equipped with two 50watt wireless transmitters, medium and short-wave, operating on 333 and 500 kilocycles for the medium waveIcng'hs, and the short wave-lengths are 11,000. 8220 and 5660 kilocycles. The call sign is J-BACI. To aid navi-

uation. there is also a wireless direc-tion-finder. Mr. Taken Ohara, who has been chief of the newspapers’ aviation department for some years, is accompanying the Nippon as the Japanese people's ' envoy. Chief Pilot Sumitoshi Nakao, who is in charge of the plane, has had a flying experience of 19 years, during which period he has accomplished some notable longdistance flights, including a Berlin to Tokio (light in April of last year. He has with him as co-pilot Shigeo Yoshida, engineers Hajime Shimokawa and Hiroshi Saeki, and wireless operators Nobusada Sato and Chosalui Yaokawa. The newspapers which are sponsoring the flight own 10 aeroplanes ol various types, which they use in connection with their news-gathering activities. Their aviation staff comprises nine transport pilots, and altogether 28 persons devote their full time to these newspapers’ aviation work.