ROSS SMITH’S OWN STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2131, 22 May 1920, Page 4

ROSS SMITH’S OWN STORY.

TOLD IX DETAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME. When, on March 30th, Sir RossSniith brought the famous Vickers-' Vimy aeroplane lightly to earth the Point Cook aerodrome, near Melbourne, he completed in safely the most wonderful voyage in the history of aviation. With a crew of three he had,piloted the machine not only half round the world, but more than half round Australia in addition. How wondeful was the achievement, and what it involved in hardship, risks and pluck, will be gathered from Sir Ross Smith's Own Story, which-is now appearing in “Life,” under his own name. Sir Ross Smith is about to start on his Australian lecture tour, but this is the first time that the actual story is related in any detail. The May issue of that ..bright monthly, “Life,” not only comes out in spite of the strike that is holding up the printing trade of Vietoria, but aniuumees a'fine new. programme of features, of which Ritss Smith’s 'Own Story is only one. Others deal with various phases of sport, by leading champions, and still others with special articles on health ami business.

The (juality of the Ross Smith Story may he judged from the fidlowing extracts; —

“For my own convenience, I divided the route into four stages: — First, London to Cairo; second, Cairo to Calcutta;.third, Calcutta to Singapore; fourth, Singapore to Australia. “I had been over the entire route with the exception of the first stage, and so was fairly cognisant with the ! existing facilities —the weather, climate conditions, and the nature o! ! the landing grounds. General Burton had pioneered the first stage in August, 1918; ids generous advice, directions, charts and photographs were invaluable. For the first two •stages 1 had none other apprehensions than those of had weather. As far as Calcutta, passable aerodromes existed, and 1 could rest assured of Royal Air Force assistance at al"lnost every landing place. .From Calcutta onward We would be entire* ly dependent on our own arrangements. I considered these last two stages the most hazardous of the flight. Owing to the dense jungles and rough ground, landing places were, few and far between, and even (hose at which we contemplated stopping were very small and nnsuited to landing a big machine.

THE RACE BEGINS IN EARNEST

“’The forecast was “totally unfit for dying.’' This was not very reassuring, bin our minds were made up. and come fair, come foul, we were determined to start. A few friends had gathered to bid ns Godspeed, and, with their kindly expressions and cheers sounding in our ears, we climbed into our seats and took off from the snow-covered aerodrome. We climbed slowly upward through the cheerless mistItuloa skies, our engines well throilied back and dunning perfectly. “There was a. certain amount of .sentiment mingled with regrets jn leaving old England, the land of our fathers. Stormy seas wore sweeping up channel, lashing white foam against the gaunt, grey cliffs that peered through the mists in the winter light, phantom-like and unreal. The frigid breath of winter stung our faces and chilled ns through; its garb of white had fallen across the land, making the prospect inexpressibly drear, “The machine was flying stately, and steady as a rock. All the bracing wires were tuned to a nicety ; the dope on the lingo planes glinted and glistened- in the sunlight; I was filled with admiration. The engines, which were throttled down to about three-quarters of their possible speed, had settled down to their task, and were purring away in perfect unison and harmony.”

After describing the mechanism of the machine, and the joy, of (lying, Sir Ross Smith continues :

.“And then the sun came out brightly, and the channel, all flecked with white-tops, spread beneath us. Two torpedo boats, looking like toys, went northward. And now midway, how narrow and constricted the straits appeared, with the grey-white cliffs of old England gxmwing misty behind, and ahead — Gris In ez —France, growing in detail each moment.

THE WEATHER PROPHET. “The weather was glorious, and I was beginning to think that the official prophet, who had predicted bad conditions at our start, was fallible after all. It, was not until we reached the coast of France that the Oracle - justified itself; for, stretching away as far as we could see, there lay a se.a of cloud. Thinking it might he only a local belt, we plunged into the compacted margin, only to discover a dense wall of numbus cloud, heavily surcharged with snow. The machine speedily became deluged hy sleet and snow. It clotted up our goggles, and the wind screen, and covered our faces with a mushy mask of semi-frozen ice. Advance was impossible, an<J x so we turned the machine about and came out into the bright sunshine again. “We were than flying at 4,000 feet, and the clouds were-so densely compacted as to appear mighty snow cliffs, towering miles into the air. There wes no gap or pass anywhere, so I shut off the, engines and glided down, hoping to Hy under them. Below the clouds snow was falling heavily, blotting out all observation for more than a few yards ahead. Once more we became frozen up, and, as our low elevation made Hying hazardous and availed

us-nothing,. I determined to climb above the cloud-mass, and, once above it, set a compass course for Lvons.”

Sir Ross describes, in detail; how an aerial eour.se is set, and then continues : ; —

INTO CLOUDLAXD,

“So we climbed steadily in a wide, ascending spiral, until wo reached an altitude of 9,000 feet, and were then just above the clouds. Below ns the snow-storm raged, hut we had entered another world —a strange world all our own, with bright dazzling sunshine. It might have been a vision of the Polar regions—it undoubtedly felt like it. The mighty cloud ocean over which we were scudding resembled a polar •landscape covered with snow. The rounded cloud contours might have been the domes of snow-merged summits. It was hard to conceive that that amorphous expanse was not actual, solid. Here'and there lloeeulent lowers ami ramps heaved up, piled like mighty snow dumps, toppling and crushing into one another. Everything was so tremendous, so vast, that one’s sense of proportion swayed uncontrolled. Then there were liny wisps, more delicate and frail than feathers. Chasms, thousands of feet- deep, .sheer columns irtid bunks extended elmosi hoyoud eye-reach. Between us mid the sun stretched isolated towers of cumulus, thrown up, as if erupted from the chaos below. The, sunlight filtering through their shapeless hulk was scattered into every conceivable gradation and shade in monotone. Round the margins the sun’s rays'.played, outlining all with edgings of silver. The scene was one of utter bewilderment and extravagance. Below, the shadow of our machine pursued us, skipping from crest to crest, jumping gulfs and ridges like a bewitched phantom. Around the shadow' circled a gorgeous halo, a complete flat rainbow. I have never seen anything in all my life so unreal as the solitude of this upper world through which myself and companions were now fleeting. A FROZEN LUNCHEON.

“About 1 p.m. I suggested to my brother that we should have some sandwiches for lunch. On taking l.hem from the cupboard we discovered they were'frozen hard: fortunately we carried a thermos flask of hot coffee, and the piece-de-re-sistanee was a few sticks of caoeolatc, which was part of our emergency rations. I have never felt so c;)ld or miserable in my Hie as 1 did those few hours. My diary is terse, if not explicit : “This sort of (lying is a rotten game. The cold is hell, and Jam a silly ass for having over embarked on the [light." But the day’s flight ended in a safe landing at Lyons, and Sir Ross writes:—

“Wo■ have flown 510 miles on a day .officially reported ‘unfit for flying.’ Furthermore, wo have convinced ourselves that by careful navigation we could fly anywhere in ,■ ny sort of weather, and. what was still more, we had gained absolute confidence in our machine and en-

gines. We were so Milt with cold when we climbed out of the machine (hat we could hardly walk. But what did il matter? Our spirits ran high., wo had covered the worst stage; tin; uast would soon be forgot ten, and new adventures lay awaiting ns in the near —rosy future.”