FIVE DAYS FLYING TIME

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 290, 28 February 1928, Page 9

FIVE DAYS FLYING TIME

AVERAGED 89 M.P.H. ACHIEVEMENT ANALYSED Reed. 12.15 a.m. LONDON, Monday. In answer to a question in the House of Commons, the Secretary for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare, said: “I cannot at present add much to the information given by the Press regarding Hinkler’s outstanding achievem t, which lam glad to see has been given the prominence it undoubtedly deserves.” Sir Samuel detailed the records that had been broken. Hinkler’s total flying time was 134 hours, he said. Therefore if the flight had been continuous, day and night, it would have occupied only five days and 14 hours. Taking the whole time spent on the flight, including night and day halts, the distance worked out at an average of 30 miles an hour. Taking the time of actual flying, the speed averaged 89 miles an hour. The fact that 12,000 miles had been covered without repairs was a striking testimony to the reliability of the machine and engine. One of the most striking features of the flight was that the machine used was a standard Avro-Avian, with a Cirrus engine, which had been in use since 1926. The only alteration before the flight was the incorporation of fextra tankage. A machine of this type complete, apart from the extra tanks, cost £730, and, approximately, Hinkler’s consumption of petrol and oil cost only £SO. These figures -were a striking indication of the great potentialities of aircraft for communication between the vast stretches of the Empire over which other means of communication were either non-existent or relatively undeveloped.—A. and N.Z.-Sun. BUST OF HINKLER The Czeeho-Slovakian sculptor, Otakar Steinberger, desiring to commemorate the Australian national hero, has decided to make a bronze bust of Hinkler, which he Is asking the Royal Aero Club to hand to Hinkler.—A. and N.Z.-Sun.