COBHAM GETS GREAT RECEPTION

Shannon News, 6 July 1926, Page 3

COBHAM GETS GREAT RECEPTION

16,000 MILES COVERED BY 'PLAjME. ON FLIGHT FROM LONDON TO CAPE. Mr Alan Cobliam had a great reception on his return to England after completing his 16,000 mile flight to Cape Town and back. At 4.20 p.m. li e landed at the London Terminal Aerodrome, Croydon, in the presence of hundreds of enthusiastic spectators. In the evening he was received by the King at Buckingham Palace, and handed to His Majesty a special letter from the Earl of Athlone, Governor-General -of South Africa. Mr Cobham, in reply to Sir Philip Sassoon's words of welcome, said that h e was very proud that they had carried out what they had set out to do —to fly to Capetown and back, and, if possible, render a satisfactory report of the flying possibilities of the route to Imperial Airways. A good many people had helped to make the flight possible, and there was one person in particular—Mr Elliott, who had been with him on the Indian flight, and on whom had devolved the duty of th e maintenance of the machine and engine. "1 do not want you to think," Mr Cob. ham said, "that the flight was very daring. It was not really. The main thing was organisation and tenacity of purpose. Apart from this it was an everyday aifair, and any of tho pilots standing around me now could have carried it out as well." The flight, he went on to say, had stimulated public interest in aviation, and had, he hoped, served to prove that flying was not a fool's game, but that it was a practical proposition. The Radial Air-cooled Engine. Mr Cob ham's machine was a D.H. 50, fitted with a Siddeley Jaguar radial air-colled engine of 355 h.p., and he is th e first pilot who has flown tho same aeroplane over the whole 8020 miles between London j and the Cape. Mr Cobham is, in addition, the only man to have flown over the return route. The outward journey, owing to various, causes, was prolonged more than was expected, though the actual flying hours were only ninety-four. He left Capetown on his homeward journey on 'February 26th, and had to fly by daylight 8000 odd miles and make some twenty-six stops. The last two days of the flight from Athens entailed ISOO miles flying. He flew for 9hr. 40min. on one day in order to get to Pisa and on the next flew another 855 miles to roaoh Croydon. From . Pisa he took the shorter route over the Alps, and at 12,000 ft. there was a visibility of over eight miles. They wer e 3hr. 20mm. covering 380 miles, but; as soon as they left Lyons they rah, into the usual Western Europe weather. The flying time taken by Mr Cobham on the re! urn journey was apparently eighty hours. Tho double journey, it is worth noting, constitutes . another "record" ror British aviation, and is yet, another achievement for the radial air-cooled aero engine. This is the first time that a British air-cooled radial engine, or any engine of this type, has been used in a transcontinental flight of this description, and the fact that the two British radial engines, the. Siddeley Jaguar and the Bristol Jupiter, have both carried out exacting en. durance tests without failure, though under different conditions, is a matter, for congratulation. Story of the Flight. Mr Cobham broadcasted a talk on his experiences on the homeward journey from the London station of th c English Broadcasting Company. The flight to Capetown, he explained, was one of.survey, with thc object of finding out the possibilities of air routes and aviation between London and the Cape. It was also undertaken in order to make propaganda for British aviation. The difficulties , of tho'" flight were many. They had to fly over areas where the landing grounds were at altitudes of many thousands of feet. This made "taking off" and landing difficult on account of the rarefied atmosphere. Tropical' rams, dense forests and great tracts of unpopulated country contributed to thc diificultics? They equipped themselves, however, in anticipation of these difficulties. He flew thc same type of aeroplane as on his flight to India — a Dc Haviland 50; but instead of the 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma, they had a 385 h.p. Siddeley Jaguar air-cooled engine. An enormous amount of work was done before the flight began, such as the preparation of landing grounds and supplies. There was quite four months' work of that sort, and at lcas-t half the success of thc enterprise had depended on that. After their arrival at Capetown, he made an extensive report, and on the return "flight they set out to make a dash for home. On the same day that they left, the Windsor Castle sailed for Southampton and they tried to race her; The ship's voyage was one of just over 5000 miles, and their voyage was one Of 8000, and while the ship could steam twentyifonr hours a day, they I had to land twonty-six times and sleep somewhere at night. Therefore, although they had taken fifteen days and the Windsor Castl e was due on Monday morning, he thought that the odds had been against them. Air Route to Central Africa.

There was no suggestion, Mr Cobham saij (hat an aeroplane air route ahbxua be run between London and Capetown, because that was an airship scheme. If people wished to •jto to Capetown, they would go by boat until the airships came , along. What he and his colleagues wanted to do was to find intermediate air

routes. They found one, for instance, from Cairo to Central Africa, where it would be a paying proposition, and would reduce the mall time from one month to England to seven days. Then in South Africa they found a country absolutely ideal for flying. It was possible to land anywhere, and the weather was always perfect. n Describing the homeward flight, Mr Cobham said that near Bulawayo he saw the remarkable spectacle o f twenty l : ons in single file running beneath them. After Bulawayo they chanced on a belt of tropical rainstorms which hod to be "dodged," as it was impossible to fly through them, so dense were they. Going on through Northern Rhodesia they crossed an area of 2000 miles oi dense forest, and a railway, which they reached al't-:r the first 350 miles, was their only landmark. IGO Degrees in the Sun,

The temperature up to the time of their entryinto Sudan territory had been fairly moderate, at about 80 deg. in the shade, but then they entered the very hot region. It be. came almost unbearably hot at 5000 ft. up and they had to climb to 7000 ft. to get' a temperature as low as SiOdeg. in the shade. At one stage the temperature was llSdeg. in the shade and ICOdeg. in the sun. Despite that heat lie was glad to say that they had had no engine trouble whatever. At Khartoum they encountered sandstorms. Visibility was extremely bad, mid the only means of finding their way in that part was by following the course of the Nile. Referring to the crossing of the Mediterranean he pointed out that they were delayed for a day on account of a broken portion of the tall of th 0 machine. That was a bit oi good luck, because a terrific gale raged later in the day, and they would have been caught in it if they had not been delayed. The most magnificent flight they had through, out the whole of the homeward journey, he stated, was across the Alps.