AN AIR FLIGHT.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 May 1927, Page 3

AN AIR FLIGHT.

MOPPING OFF. CROSSING THIS ATLANTIC. (Australian Press Association »fc Sun.) (Received this day at 10.15 a.ruA JiOXDOX, May S. Nungesser hopped off Cherbourg at ten tliis morning. Dramatic thrills n<conipnnieu the start (on which they decided last night), amid a lieree thunderstorm, the meteorological experts declaring the storm was local and such favourable conditions were unlikely again. There was a following wind for fifteen hundred miles but it was less favourable in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland, thereafter improving. Nungesser and C'oli (navigator) shook hands on the decision and went off to snatch a few hours sleep. Meanwhile the Goliath Leva'ss Sur Lorraine plane, named the Osseau Blanc, the latest French naval type, was finally tested and loaded at Lebourget. Nungesser and Coli arrived at dawn. The latter admitted that he had not closed his eyes. The former slept well. A crowd of air notables witnessed the start and wished the aviators God Bpccd LONDON, ‘May 8. Nungesser cut short the farewells saying curtly to his assistants “When you like.’ The engine roared and the piano moved slowly forward. 'I he question uppermost in the crowds mind was whether Nungesser would succeed in taking off in a heavily loaded plane. "When Fonck loaded with 2.) tons crashed, the plane speeded up and the tail rose and she 101 l to the ground. Nungesser opened the throttle till it tore over the ground at a terrific pace. The tail again rose and fell and the plane was now dangerously near trees, bordering the aerodrome. Cheers broke out as the wheels were seen lifting. Nungesser by a superhuman effort forced the plane up and soared over the trees h.v a narrow margin and disappeared in the haze. Experts say he was travelling at a hundred and ten miles an hour when he took off, only sixteen yards from the edge of the aerodrome. The route is across the channel, south of Ireland, along the fifty-fourth latitude to Newfoundland and south-west to Boston. Everything depends on the reliability of the engine. Three great petrol reserves are placed in the machine in such a way that the airmen who are sitting side by side have barely room to move. They are unable to reach the engine, and should it fail they arc helpless. Before starting, a metal propeller was substituted as a safeguard against striking ail albatross and thereby smashing the wooden one. Both are dressed in suits of double silk underneath leather coats, as a protection against the cold winds. Although everything possible has been sacrificed in the interests of lightness, the airmen did not resist a few gifts |[rom ‘friends, also the fijrst direct Paris to New York mail. AVlien the machine commenced to climb the under carriage was dropped to the field, thereby reducing the weight by 220 pounds. They crossed the English Channel at a height of 1200 feet and hope to complete the journey in 36 hours.. Nothing is expected to 1 ~ heard from them for the next 2-1 hours, beyond meagre signals from ships in mid-ocean. Farral (Engineer, of Levnsscur Company) states they built four motors before they were satisfied, each costing sixteen thousand sterling. “Mungesscr carries twenty thousand of our money as well as our hopes.” he remarked.