CAPTAIN FINDLAY’S FLIGHT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3684, 30 August 1927, Page 4

CAPTAIN FINDLAY’S FLIGHT.

, The object of Captain Findlay’s flight to Auckland on Saturday was to meet members of the Imperial Air Mission, who arrive to-day. A flight from Invercargill to Auckland was made as far back as 1921. On October 24 of that year Mr. J. C. Mercer, pilot, and Mr. R. L. Wjigley and Mr. W. 11. P. Fleming, passengers, left Invercargill in a DII9 .aeroplane, belonging to the New Zealand Aero Transport Company, and fitted with a 250 h.p. Siddley-Puma engine. Bad weather was encountered and the aeroplane was forced to descent at Timaru. Departure was taken at seven o’clock the next morning and after several planned descents the aeroplane made a safe landing at Cornwall Park on the evening of October 25. The actual flying time of the trip from Invercargill was eight hours 53 minutes. Earlier in the same month a flight from Auckland to Wellington was made by Mr. L. A. Walsh, Avh'o had with him Mr. G. Bolt and Mr. R. J. Johnson. The flying time on the trip was five hours six minutes. It was not a non-stop flight. The flight from Christchurch to Auckland by Captain J. L. Findlay of the Wigram Aerodrome, Christchurch, was completed on Sunday, the distance 'covered is approximately 600 miles. Captain Findlay and his mechanic left Christchurch at 6.50 on Saturday morning, in a DH type machine and shortly after 8 a.m., the airmen were over Blenheim. A perfect landing was effected, but the soil proved soft and the wheels of the aeroplane sank into the ground. The machine toppled! over, the propellor being splintered and other damage was done. Captain Findlay and the mechanic were uninjured. Arrangements were made to continue the flight in a Bristol machine, and in this Captain Findlay and the mechanic resumed the flight from Blenheim at 2.30 on Saturday afternoon. Hawera was reached at 4 p.m., and here the airmen remained for the night. 'The flight was resumed from Hawera at 10.30 on Sunday morning and just two hours later the aeroplane landed at the appointed place at Mangere, eight miles from Auckland. Except for the accident at Blenheim, the flight was uneventful and was made in fine weather.