AIR FLYING

Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1922, Page 2

AIR FLYING

I!LAKE REACHES BAGDAD

A GRAPHIC NARRATIVE

BAGDAD/ July II“Blake stated that the jourttey from Aboukir >was full of incident. On landing at Ziza the shock absorlier of the niidor carriage gave way. flip damage Was soon repaired, but Jtalimi was suffering from the heat, and it was lieeess&rV to send a wire* h'ss to Amman for a doctor. He thought Mai ins would be better f m - a day’s rest, so they deferred the Stlirt far Bagdad, and camped for the nin'ht in the desert Ziz». being n mere snot ill the desert fifty miles east of tne Dead K'ca. There Was not a regular aerodrome.()n Wednesday morning the two machines began the flight to Bagdad ovei tlm six hundred miles of waterless desert, marked only by the track which a motor convoy made last year. As tin- pilot of the Viekers-Verritm had done the journey before lie led the way. Tie Vickers-Vernon also carried the stores, including fifteen gallons of drinking water and emergency rations. Blake pro-ceded : "We had been flvIhg oite and a half hotirs when the Vick-ers-Vermin lost her way dwitig to our distracting the pilot's attention , J flying close to his machine to enable Afalins to obtain photographs. The Vickers-Vernon landed and we followed tbit went up again and searched foi til." rdute. When WO found it the Vickers-Vernon followed behind us. The heat was intense, -and we exjperiO'ncfid terriffic humps. The heat was so great that the Vickers-Vernon could not rise above five hundred feet, and two wireless aerials were carried away as a result of hitting rocks, Half an hour liitdr the Vickers-Vernon had to des-s-end again, as repairs to oil pumps word iioeeßstliV; Wit the engine wits still running badly so 1 derided to Com tinue alone. Flying until dusk,' w£ landed at F.ljid; where we were well received by tin 1 Arabs, one of whom wore a rusty gillettp razor suspended from his right ear. After we kissed the sheiks ai>cl the head mail, a sheep was killed hi our liollour,- and we were forced to carry AwnF the bleeding clircase in cur aeroplane; At dawfl Ofl Thursday we started on the last lip of the Bagdad flight. On several occasions wp had to fly around, in circles, before We could pick up the track, and consequently exhausted our petrol before reaching Ranuidie. This was nwk* War'd, but by draining all tile petrol tailks and pouring the spirit thus obtained into one gravity tank, we just managed to raise enough to eiial I -

tp get irito the" iiif again and crawl to Ranjadie. Here a p'ofitierii officer giivf* us beer and food,’ find a few minutes later a machine from Bagdad, which was searching the desert for us as we were long overdue appeared; thus we reached Bagdad sorry spectacles, unsliaved slid dirty, as we were unable to wash for the preceding three days, but nil lelt quite fit after having food and a hath, The aeroplane engine is believing splendidly.”