BRIDE OF THE AIR.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 October 1928, Page 7

BRIDE OF THE AIR.

A ROMANTIC HONEYMOON. Stories of adventures in, the air are now popular, and one of the* most interesting of the year is that told recently in England by Mrs Richard Bentlv who recently experienced the novelty of an “air honeymoon.” She says:— When I made my first flight, four years ago, with a young lieutenant in the South African Air Force, f little dreamt I. should eventually ’ ecomo that young pilot’s wife, o" I hat lie would fake me on an epic journey across Africa to London. From the bride’s point of view, half the fun of a wedding is the honeymoon trousseau, but my ideas of this were summarily cut short when my husband-to-be announced : “We will go on a fly in sc honeymoon—to the Victoria Falls, I think. There will he exactly 12 inches of space, for your wardrobe,”

I was keen to he the first woman to have an air honeymoon, hut X think inv record lies in the Spartan wardrobe T. pushed into one little case and a hathox. 1. took two silk frocky, a coatee for the evenings, a dinner gown and bulbing suit. And a parasol smuggled in while Hick wasn’t looking The kit passed his inspection, and aloft we went on the morning after the wedding. We certainly had our honeymoon at the Falls, hut just as we were thinking of dashing back to Pretoria up flew Lady Heath, on her solo flight and she needed an escort across the high plateaux of East Africa. Would Dick oblige ? We agreed to see her as far as Nairobi, and the adventure thrilled us both.

Then one day my husband shouted : “What about a trip to London?” My reply was “Rather ” We left Lady Heath at Nairobi' and begun the really hazardous part of our honeymoon. We came down each day at noon, after ascending at 7 a.m., and everywhere we had excellent beds and food. Our trip was entirely unplanned and we came “out of the blue” on the good people of the villages and settlements, i In all we made 27 halts. We would land wash and brush up, lunch, and walk a little, and I claim that my parasol was an entirely sensible piece of equipment. It was responsible for the preservation of my complexion which astounded people in England. Often I used to sleep in the air, an sometimes I would read a “thriller” and forget I was flying until I felt Dick swooping for land and lunch. I suppose I can claim to be the first woman passenger to fly from South Africa to London, hut I am much prouder of another feat. Stitch by stitch, seam by seam, I made a frock for myself while in the air.

There were incidents that will alway remain in iny memory. We saw herds of elephant buck, at times causing a stampede, and once a family of lions. The Sudan behaved dustily, but we sur vived unscathed, even to our tempers. We sauntered over the north of Africa to Tripoli sometimes only 10 feet above the Mediterranean, but once when he saw Bedouins, we bolted up about 8000 feet. We crossed the Mediterranean and flew through the smoke of Vesuvius, close to the spitting, flaming red month, hut the only time my heart sank was when we stalled outside Rome.

We readied Croydon three months after the wedding, and they said I had landed as if from a bandbox, with no journey strain after those thousands of miles of aerial honeymoon. I can think of no girl who has had such a unique honeymoon as myself, and I am looking forward to the return trip at the end of the year.