"SMITHY" PREPARED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 27, 24 September 1931, Page 4

"SMITHY" PREPARED

AIRMAN VERY FIT SPECIAL COURSE OF CAEFUL TRAINING FOR RECORD ATTEMPT. TENNIS, SHOWERS AND STOUT. SYDNEY, Thursday. ; Air-Commodore Kingsford-Smith, ! who hopped off alone from Wyndham J in an attempt to brealc the air record . to England, is taking no ehaiices of 1 cracking up under the terriffic phyi sical strain that the flight will impose ! upon him. J With eharacteristic thoroughness I "Smithy" tuned up his body with the j same care that he gave to the preparation of the little machine on j which he is placing his eonfidence of i getting to London in seven days 14 hours — one day five hours 40 minutes less than the standing record established by Mr. Mollison. When preparing, "Smithy" started the dajr with a cold shower and a sprint in a .quiet corner of Bellvue Hill. Later, at Langridge's, he went through physical "jerlcs" and had half an hour's massage. In the afternoon he often had a game of tennis with Mrs. Kingsford-Smith, who is a first-class player, and, in his own words, "beats me hollow." Moderately early hours were the order for every night. Put on 4lbs. As to diet, "Smithy" paid attention to the vitamin content and stored energy by drinking a small bottle of stout each day. He rationed his smoking to a maximum of 10 cigarettes a day — half the usual tally. With all this he put on 41b in weight in two weeks and feels better than when he flew the Southern Cross Junior from England to Australia in the then record time of 10 days, two hours, 10 minutes. "I am not the slightest bit worried about the physical factor in the fkght," Kingsford-Smith said yesterday, "and there is no reason to believe that the mechanical end will let me down. As long as the engine keeps turning I will be there on schedule."