PLUCKY GIRL

Southland Times, Issue 21093, 27 May 1930, Page 7

PLUCKY GIRL

MISS AMY JOHNSON INCIDENTS OF FLIGHT EXPERIENCE IN DESERT NATION TO HONOUR HER (United Press Assn.— By Telegraph—Copyright.) Darwin, May 26. On leaving England Miss Amy Johnson admits that she felt a bit scared over crossing the Channel. She left Croydon with a good following wind in a heavy fog, which suddenly lifted. She saw a small stream of water and landed on the other side, and thought at first she had turned around in the fog and was returning to Croydon. After five minutes she ascertained that she had crossed the Channel without realizing it. Referring to her forced landing later on in the desert, she said the sand was fearful and it was the worst experience of the flight. She lost all control of the plane, which the hurricane tossed about like a shuttlecock. She was dressed in warm clothing and the heat was insufferable. Her sole thoughts were that her mother would be worrying and regrets that she had taken on the flight against all advice. On leaving Samarang she struck another fearful storm, and everything was black with the rain in sheets. She could see nothing. She was surrounded by an intense rainbow and everything was ethereal and almost supernatural. At one time she thought she was dead or dreaming. Friendly Natives. On leaving Sourabaya she was forced by a lack of petrol to land at Haliloelik, 16 miles from Atamboea in a field full of horses and cattle. On landing she found herself surrounded by natives dressed in loin cloths and carrying murderous knives and swords. The native chief caught her by the arm and led her away, and though scared she thought it better to submit. On walking two miles she arrived at the church. The flight to Darwin was without incident. She passed the oil tanker Phorus mid-way. On sighting Melville Island she stood up and cheered and threw overboard the pneumatic pillow. She could hardly realize that her object had been achiever!, and alternatively laughed and cried till she picked up the Point Charles lighthouse and turned for Darwin. Her reception here was beyond her wildest imaginings. Miss Johnson intends to return to England in September and take a position with the Daily Mail, London, at a salary of £lO.OOO for a seven months’ agreement as aeronautical correspondent and lecturer. Across Australia. Miss Johnson leaves to-day for Alexandria, Cloncurry and Brisbane. She expects to arrive at Brisbane on Wednesday. Upon her arrival at Sydney she intends to visit the newspaper office which classed her intention to fly to Australia as a “Girl’s bombast” and ask for the writer of the article and say, “I’m here anyhow.” When she realized that she could not equal Bert Hinkler’s record, which she set out to lower, she became despondent and was inclined to abandon the trin but Siam residents tried to cheer her up and told her that by long hops she could catch up. Others advised her to take it easy while some, including Wing-Commander Cave-Brown-Cave, advised her to abandon, the flight, as it was hopeless to contend against the monsoons. From England to Calcutta was ideal flying. but Rangoon to Australia was like a hideous dream with a series of nerve-racking experiences and marvellous escapes. At Sourabaya she found that she had been flying from Rangoon with a broken spar and also a broken speedometer. History of the Venture. A British Official Wireless message states that Miss Johnson left Croydon on May 5 and has thus completed in 20 days a wonderful solo flight of approximately 10,400 miles over a route which presented almost every variety of difficulty which an aviator can encounter. She took her first flying lesson IS monthes ago. After leaving Sheffield University, where she obtained her B.A. degree, she took up secretarial work in the office of a London solicitor. A visit to the Stag Lane aerodrome aroused ambitions to fly. and she arranged to have lessons, showing from the first remarkable aptitude. Not content with,obtaining a pilot’s license, she studied engineering and was the first airwoman to become a qualified ground engineer. Her longest flight before the one just completed was from London to her 'native town of Hull, a distance of 147 miles, and her actual flying life was only 90 hours. Consequently when she conceived the idea of flying to Australia,, the experts she approached for advice and assistance mostly provided discouragement and warnings. She was so persistent, however, that her father enabled her to buy a second-hand machine some years old in which Captain Hope, the well known airman, had already flown 35,000 miles in Africa and elsewhere, but it was a good machine, one of the famous de Haviland Moth light planes with a 100 horsepower Gipsy engine. Help From Oil Companies. Finally the oil and petrol companies, probably more out of good nature than in any expectation that she would get far, promised her help along the route. Thus on May 5 .with a spare propeller strapped on her little machine and with the passenger’s seat filled with extra petrol storage, she waved her hand to her father and set off alone for Australia. She reached Vienna, her first stopping place, 750 miles distant in one hop, a good effort. Thence on successive stages to Constantinople, Aleppo, Baghdad, BunderAbbas and Karachi, but it was only when she arrived in India on the sixth day, two days under the time made by Bert Hinkler in his 15 days’ record flight to Australia, that the newspapers awoke to the fact that this girl, unknown to the public a week before, was an airwoman of quite exceptional mettle. She had then made the difficult flight across the Anatolia and 8000 ft high Taurus mountains amid storms and dense clouds, had effected a landing on the way to Baghdad in a blinding sandstorm, and had gone on again and had kept going in conditions of intense heat. Violent monsoon weather was encountered on the way to Rangoon and in landing on a field nearby the plane encountered a concealed ditch. The damage done involved three days’ delay and spoiled her chances .of beating Hinkler’s record. She flew to Bangkok in torrents of rain and from there to Singora the mist was so thick that she had to fly along ths winding coast only a few feet above the sea. Hospitality ‘of Dutch. On later stages she benefited by the hospitality and assistance of the Dutch authorities who were as anxious as het own coutrymen that the .superb adventure should end with the success it has achieved. Appropriately enough it was ended on Empire Day. Miss Johnson has received hundreds of telegrams from all parts of the world and tributes by all .the leading airmen and airwonien, including Sir Vernon Roe, Captain de Haviland, the Duchess of Bedford and Miss Spooner. ' ; Lord Thomson, Secretary for Air, is ' already considering fiiidiiig a suitable form off award to recommend his Majesty to tronfar upon Miss Johnson. “Her wonder-

ful flight has done a great deal for the British Empire. It has advanced again our reputation for pluck and doggedness in the face of difficulties,” he said. The Daily Herald says: “It is not improbable that the difficulty may be met bjr creating a new honour applicable to women performing an act of heroism. She has conferred a great honour upon Britain. It is now- Britain’s turn to confer a great honour upon her.” Miss Johnson’s ten-year-old sister, Betty, says: “What Amy has done is splendid. I want to beat her by flying to New Zealand.” “I’m the happiest and proudest mother in the world,” declared Amy’s mother when seen amidst sheaves of congratulatory telegrams. “Amy is approaching 27. We’ve often contradicted the reports that she is only 22, but they persist.” ALOFT AGAIN MISS JOHNSON LEAVES DARWIN. (Rec. 7.50 p.m.) Darwin, May 26. Miss Johnson, escorted by several aeroplanes, left Darwin at ’7.30 a.m. (local time) and arrived at Daly Waters at noon. She had lunch and departed for Alexandria station. The aviatrix will reach Cloncurry to-morrow, and expects to reach Sydney at 2.30 next Monday afternoon. Before leaving Darwin Miss Johnson’s sole worry was how her mother would be fretting, as her mother thought the flight risk fearful. Miss Johnson intends to stay three months in. Australia and will possibly visit New Zealand. NO WORD OF LANDING. (Rec. 12.55 a.m.) Sydney, May 26. There is no news whether Miss Johnson landed at Alexandria station, which is 200 miles south of Daly Waters. The station is without a telephone. * BRISBANE ON THURSDAY'. (Rec. 10.25 p.m.) Brisbane, May 26. The Lord Mayor has received advice that Miss Johnson arrives in Brisbane on Thursday at 2.30 p.m. and remains a few days. A NEW PLANE SHILLING FUND OPENED. (Rec. 7.0 pffn.) London, May 26. The Daily Sketch has opened a shilling fund to buy Miss Amy Johnson a new aeroplane. THANKSGIVING SERVICES GLOWING PRESS TRIBUTES. (Rec. 9.15 p.m.) London, May 26. Thanksgiving prayers were offered in Hull churches, particularly the Wesleyan Church, Princes Avenue, where Miss Johnson’s mother is organist. The. Times says that Miss Johnson proved herself mistress of her machine, which must be a superlatively sound one. The Daily Mail says that no woman in history has shown such combination of initiative, endurance, organizing capacity and pluck. Other British Press comment is along the same lines and pays the aviatrix the highest tribute for the successful accomplishment of her ideal.

HIGH PRAISE CABLE FROM MR F. C. CHICHESTER. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, May 26. Mr F. C. Chichester, who recently flew from England to Australia, solo, has sent the following cable to Miss Amy Johnson at Sydney: “Please accept heartiest congratulations on your great achievement of one of the finest flights in the history of aviation.” —F. C. Chichester. OUTSTANDING FEAT SIR JOSEPH WARD’S MESSAGE. Wellington, May 26. The following message has been telegraphed to Miss Amy Johnson to-day: "The Government and people of New Zealand desire to express their hearty congratulations on the successful accomplishment of your solo aerial flight from England to Australia, and also their admiration of your intrepid courage and skill in this latest outstanding feat of aviation.—Joseph Ward.” From inquiries made to-day it is learned that no steps have been taken to invite Miss Johnson to visit New Zealand. “A GREAT FLIGHT” YVING COMMANDER GRANT DALTON’S TRIBUTE. Wellington, May 26. “A great flight that has a message for women” is the way in which the Director of Air Services (Wing Commander S. Grant Dalton) views Miss Amy Johnson’s effort. “It is a great flight,” he said, “but it will not be long before the England-Australia flight will be common. It is a severe test on a small machine like Miss Johnson’s, as well as on the pilot, and it is a trial for such a machine and engine to carry through such a journey. Women ought to take up flying to a greater extent. They are just as good as men.” Asked whether Miss Johnson would secure the air mail pilot’s position which she desires, the Wing Commander, said that he thought she would. There was no prejudice against women pilots. “If I had to select a pilot from the club trained pilots of New Zealand to take me about, I should choose Miss Pauline Bennett, of Marlborough. She is- about as good as any of them,” he de-, clared. He reiterated his belief that mote women should fly and some of them take B (commercial) licensee, but it does not seem that he favours male attire for women. “But I do not want them to fly in shorts,” he added.