KINGSFORD SMITH

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1931, Page 5

KINGSFORD SMITH

SMITHY LEAVES ROME. (United Press Association.—By Electrio Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received this day at 8 a.m.) LONDON, October 7. Kingsford Smith iei’t Rome this morning in good spirits. LANDS IN ENGLAND. LONDON, October 7. Kingsford Smith has arrived at Heston. SMITHY RELATES ADVENTUROUS FLIGHT. LOOKING REMARKABLY* WELL. (Received this day at, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, October 7. Sitting in a luxurious suite at the Dorchester House Hotel in Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park, collarless with the sleeves of his greasy blue sweater rolled up, Kingsford Smith to-night told of his adventurous flight from Wyndham in which exasperating luck prevented a record. He looked remarkably well considering his trying experience but with a deep coating of tan with a trace of what must have been a nerve wrecking ordeal. Kingsford Smith, maintaining life reputation of an express train, punctually landed at Heston according to schedule at 5.30, His welcomers Including Mollison, Oscar Garden, Capt. J, P. Saul, his navigator during life trans-Atlantic flight; Squadron Leader Marsden, representing the High Commissioner of New Zealand; Pilot Miss 1 Jean Datten and AU’s Victor Bruce. SMITHY’S EXPERIENCES. LONDON, October 7. An hour after lii.s arrival Smith’s face broke into a smile when lie was informed that his wife was waiting on the wireless telephone at Melbourne. He was engaged in five m mites of happy conversation and then had a meal of poached eggs before being driven to London, where levelling in the ease of a deep arm chair, after a struggle against sleep, he talked freely of his adventures.

Smithy explained that his landing in Turkey was a case of either coming down or fainting in the air, with possibly disastrous results,

“I came down eight miles from Milas, hoping to snatch a rest and then push on before the authorities found me. I lay down on a leather coat beside tbe machine and when I awoke T found villagers grouped round me. Then the police arrived, and I knew my chance of breaking the record was gone, They .find never seen an ac plane before. Soldiers guarded,.mg. t’m first night aUtl tlieh when I explained that j. Was aii officer bf my own country, u good tiatiiied officer took tbal*/> Until the British Embassy fieuul'eU m,y release,” The sunstroke sustained over the Bay of Bengal was through, he admitted, his own carelessness in not wearing' a proper tropical helmet. It worried him throughout and sometimes made him feel so light headed that he felt like jumping out of the machine. 'file most unnerving experienvee of the flight was the forced landing on the beach near Victoria Point. Wh'n he went to the jungle to gather timber with which to prop up the machine and prevent the rising tide damaging it, he heard a tiger growl.

SMITH'S INTENTIONS.

LONDON, October 7.

I covered two hundred yards of beach in twenty seconds and clambered into tbe cockpit and remained there until the morning. I bad no sleep that night. The nervous system will not stand the strain of an immediate flight home. I am seeing a doctor tomorrow. My plans depend largely on his advice, but I am hopeful of starting next week and am confident of breaking the Anglo-Aust'ralia.n record.