To Attempt Tasman Flight

NZ Truth, Issue 1178, 28 June 1928, Page 1

To Attempt Tasman Flight

DORN at Brisbane 32 years ago, ' Kingsford Smith grew up into the usual species of small boy, with no passionate interest m flying. At 18 he went to the war as an engineer, then the bug bit. him, and he returned wi£h an M.C. and a fine reputation as a scout-flyer. The Smith brothers beat him to the England-to-Australia flight, so he migrated to California, and with his plane succeeded m ridding that country from the wild duck that played havoc with the rice-fields and so on. Hollywood saw him as a stunt flyer for the films, then he returned to Australia and flew. with the W.A. Airways, Ltd., for three ye"ars without an accident. His unwavering tenacity of purpose had ample exercise m this last super-adven-ture. He got his teeth in — and bit.

A DYED-IN-THE-WOOL Austra- ■** lian, C. T. P. Ulm has a dash of French blood, which probably flowed freely the day he slid down a slanting roof to the ground, per* medium of a butter-box. He was then somewhere m the vicinity of nine years. Life was a great game to Ulrn those days, and it still is. Atjl7 his enthusiasm ran riot. He enlisted, arrived at the landing of Giallipoli, was promptly wounded, and was sent back home, only' to re-enlist with due promptness and decision. He eventually saw service m France. Those early butter-rbox days bore fruit after the war; when he flung himself into a mighty endeavor to form a flying company. Lack of funds wiped out the project. He then took on stunt flying for a flour company. The rest — well, the rest is history.