CHEAP PLYING BY HINKLER.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 28 February 1928, Page 5

CHEAP PLYING BY HINKLER.

■ 25 MILES TO THE GALLON. T PETROL VARIES GREATLY IN V # PRICE. y <(By Telegraph-Press Assn.-Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.45*a.m.) ' ' BRISBANE, This Day. * Hinkler, interviewed at Bundaberg, * .said that the flight to Australia cost f cult to ■work out the exact cost, because f rthe price of petrol varied from Is 6d a .gallon in Britain to 3s 6d .at Basra. 5 ’ He did 25 miles to the gallon, and used ; ( a bbonze bust. * -rBOHEMIAN‘SCULPTOR’S PRESENT ... ,(By Telegraph-Press Assn.-Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) . LONDON, February 27. / The Czeeho-Slovakian sculptor OtaT kar, ■ Steinbergcr, desiring to coraraom.oraite the Australian national hero, has r decided to make a bronze bust of Hinkler, which he is asking the Royal Aero Club to hand to Hinkler. NET TIME FIVE AND A-HALF DAYS. STANDARD MACHINE USED. / ((By Telegraph-Press Assn.-Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) ■ LONDON. February 27. ■ Answering a question in the House <of Commons, Sir Samuel Hoare, Air •Minister, stated, “I cannot at present •add much to the information given by the Press regarding Hinkler’s •outstanding achievement, which, I am glad to see, has been given the prominence it '.undoubtedly deserves.” Sir Samuel detailed the records that .-had been broken. He said that Hink- £ ler’s total flying time was 134 hours. Therefore, if the flight had been contin- ,,, '.uous day and night, it would have occupied only five.days fourteen hours. Taking the whole time spent on the v-flight, including night and day halts, ■ • the distance worked out at 30 miles hourly. Taking time'of actual flying, V the speed averaged 89 miles hourly. ' The fact that 12,000 miles were covered without repairs was striking testimony f ' to the reliability of-the machine and 'engine. One of the most striking fea- •’ turcs of the flight was that the machine nsed was a standard Avro-Avian with ■Cirrus engine, which had been in use * since 192 G. The only alteration before ■ the flight was the incorporation of an -extra-tank. A machine of this type -complete, apart from extra tanks, cost 1 £730, and approximately Hinkler’s consumption of petrol and oil cost only . -£SO. */'These figures were a striking in--dieation of the great potentialities of /aircraft for communications across vast stretches of the Empire oyer which other means of communication wore ■either non-existent or relatively un--1 ’ developed. ' * ME. BRUCE’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT , (By Telegraph—Press Association.) • ‘ WELLINGTON. This Day. Mk Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia, has cabled to Sir Charles Wakefield, accepting, on behalf of ,the Goy.ernmeat and people of Australia, his offer of an Avro-Avian plane, adding: “ Nothing, could, more fitly mark the great achievement of Hinkler. I feel ■sure that your gift will be an inspiration to the- development of aviation in v. Australia.' ” ; .