AN AIR FEAT.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 October 1923, Page 4

AN AIR FEAT.

— i ETTKI? DEI 1VliltEl: TO ST E a:MED. SYDNEY. October IS. I he j'as.-engci's on an incoming Americr.ii .- tenner last we. k watched "ill. wrapt interest a renmrkal le 1.,.; - . nit-man ship ju-t al't'-r they enI evil S'.'oHeaiD. On,- () | the pasesugeis Inn! received a wiri-less message Iron-. .Mr Harding, a well-known ba-iuc-s .mail in Sydney - dire-i or of

tii© 1648 Cologne Co.—who is the owner of an aeroi'-lano on which ho has performed some noteworthy longdistance flights;, intimating that after the .steamer entered ihe heads ho would deliver a letter to him from his ’plane. The news had got round, and ;dl eyes on hoard were soon fixed on the specie which was discernible in the sky long before the vessel had made the Deads. Passing under the jagged beetling brow of North Head it was noticed that the 'plane was making a steady descent, am! by the time the entrance of the harbour had been cflected and there was more sen-room on the deep blue surface, the ’plane was circling round at a low altitude like a huge albatross. "Nearer and nearer it came to the lowly moving steamer, cvcivhody watching it with bated breath, till, with one final swoop it gracefully ciirv,:.' down parallel with the deck, its lower wing within six inches of the water. .Tint at the right moment the monster whiiTed past. Aft Harding was: seen to lean sideways and east out n weighted letter which landed safely or. the deck, and was straightaway picked up by one of ihe oflkers and handed to the waiting passenger whose address it bore. So close was the machine to the .steamer that the pas-'engers were able clearly to discern the features of the occupants—.Mr f;. Xi:isen accompanied .Mr Harding —mill when, upon berthing about half an hour l iter, both Mere seen to climn the ga tii--:way and stroll along the deck, they wen- greeted with congratulations from n!| sides ami were the hemes of the hour. Dm hefme this moment arrived the passengers had teectved a wonderful demon drat ion of aerial skill ns tiie ’plane swept along over the suiimc of. the water after the delivery ol the letter. It elegantly circled around a .Manly ferry steamer at dock level, drove straight at an outgoing collier which it skimmed over and then spiralled up into the skv until lost to view as it descended again below the rod-io-iped houses fringing one of the hillsides. ‘'When they came on deck,” an admiring American remarked afterwards, "they were as cool and calm as ice waggon drivers. . . If these two arc fair samples of Australia's men, then you don’t have to worry much about foreign invasion. An air squttdloit capable of manoeuvring like that would send a licet to the bottom long before it could gel within gun-range of your consi. ?J