FLIGHT ACROSS ATLANTIC

Southland Times, Issue 24820, 12 August 1942, Page 5

FLIGHT ACROSS ATLANTIC

ARRIVAL IN SCOTLAND FOR BREAKFAST

To arrive in Scotland in time for breakfast after a night’s flight across the Atlantic was the experience of an Invercargill airman, Pilot Officer R. E. Stevenson. He describes the experience in a letter to a friend in Invercargill. “After completing training we were posted to pick up aircraft and fly across to England,” he writes. “We were very pleased with this, as not many chaps were given a chance of a flight to England. The old Atlantic can be very unfriendly to flying, especially at that time of the year. Icing conditions were our biggest worry. “After a short stay we took off one night just before dusk and arrived in Scotland for breakfast next morning. We made the trip at night, so navigation had to be done by the stars, and we flew at 20,000 feet most of the way. It was hard to realize we had covered some 2200 miles. The green fields of Ireland and Scotland made a very pleasant sight in the early morning sunlight as we passed over, especially after so much snow in Canada.” VISIT TO NEW YORK

Pilot Officer Stevenson saw a good deal of Canada while he was there. Ted Jackson, from Invercargill, was one of five New Zealanders with him, and after receiving their commissions they were given 10 days’ leave, most of which they spent in New York. They had a marvellous time there. “It is some city,” writes Pilot Officer Stevenson.

On arrival in England Pilot Officer Stevenson was given 14 days’ leave. He spent a week in London and then saw other parts of the country. He was much impressed with the English scenery. “The country in England is very pretty,” he writes. “I believe Scotland is even better and must go there for my next leave.” Pilot Officer Stevenson is a son of Mr and Mrs J. K. Stevenson, Invercargill, Last year at an air course training station in Canada he gained the highest marks in his class and was presented with a navigator’s watch by the president of an airport company. He is attached to the Coastal Command.