TASMAN FLIGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1932, Page 6

TASMAN FLIGHT

KINGSFO'RD-SMITH’S PLANS. RADIO TELEPHONES. SYDNEY, October 20. Very elaborate plans are being made by ton- Charles ivingstord-bmim tor ms next lugiLt acr.uss me JL&siuan from Sydney to iNew ioeaJianu, and tiiese aJ© being rapidly pushed ahead so that ins special equipment can be tlioroughiy tested neiore he sets out across the storm-beaten ocean. All being welL, he plans to leave Sydney about A a.m. on January 14th., on which date there will lie a full moon. The id)j mile hop should take his famous Southern Cro;s twelve hours, but the machine will lie able to lift sufficient petrol for 20 hours in the air. It is considered by experts tiiat this will give an ample margin, of safety. For the first time in the history of ocean flying, Sir Charles KingsfordSmith will use radio-telephony for communication with the land. He hopes that he will be able to talk direct to any city in Australia and New Zealand', also with London and New York. A Sydney broadcasting (Station will relay conversations with him during the whole of the flight. It might be possible to make a similar arrangement with 1 ia New Zealand station. Sir Charles is still ore of the most popular figures in Australia, and his new endeavour will be followed with the keenest interest. He can depend on having thousands of listeners in Aust-n lia., arid the novelty of suc-li a broadcast would surely appeal to New Zealanders.

Supplementing the radio telephony regular two-way morse radio commun'ention w’ll be maintained from Sydney and New Zealand. The radio operator will be Mr John M. Stanr>age. who acted as radio operator during Kingsford-Smith’s flight from England to America, in 1930. Stannage, who will construct all the rad’o equipment to be carried on the Southern Oi'o.-s, is the only isurvivor of the crew of He aeroplane Canberra, which rescued Kingsfnrd-Sm’+h’s par( v when it was lost in the north-west of Austrabn on the occasion of the first attempt to fly from Australia to England. . A sound p v bpf cabin will be biiiJit on' tli» Southern Ci-oes so that qtw voices will go on the air without interference.

The ether member of tV crew v-i” V G. U. Allan, who will ho v. a l’"f pilot, and in -"dditirn there will be a pa.'-poneer whose name has not v et been disclo-ed. When fully lade”. t'm Southern (V c s will rot "We to take off 13 ,t either AT"wot o’* Richmond Aerodromes, and will beg’n the fiiglit from Gei'*'.’ne''rio. no tlm South. Coast of New South Wales. leV than mil os .-from Svdnev. P” Hiking/the r re«wards. Sir Charles p-fVI”-ed that, be wo”H liava ro worry fences. tree=. and mmrVM vi”-s. F» Vs-.e'-nleined U’° + - h" is coin* V v, w Zeeland sole 1 - for tlm Pnm'oV. r o tjorosto-min". Fe wi’-l remain the nem-oion for several me’d'-is. ar-yc-oono n-.swvd-ren “T ("""V n to p’’' rv +be n o”"r 1 n *’ ' c o d “«o flyir" is ’""st pr«ct ! o"We to rir. We will return to Australia by air.”