ALL HATS OFF TO THEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 377, 11 June 1928, Page 1

ALL HATS OFF TO THEM

AMERICA EXALTS FLYERS UNSTINTED PRAISE (Australian Press Association.) NEW YORK, Saturday. Mr. Clarence Chamberlin, who flew from New York to Germany last year, commented on the flight of the Southern Cross to-day. He said Captain Smith and his associates had been responsible for a tremendous contribution to aviation. Their flight had conclusively demonstrated that Australian airmen were ■among the greatest in the w’orld. He paid a tribute to the marvellous efficiency of the Whirlwind motor and

the genius of its Inventor. Mr. Charles Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence said the flight .nad focussed all eyes on the possibilities of air travel over great distances in which multi-motorted aircraft would play a great part. He expressed a keen desire to obtain the data relafve to the flight of the Southern Cross, which, he said, he believed would astound aviators the world over. GREATEST EVER The New York “World” says: With the steadiness and certainty suggesting the ways ot a ship, but at four times the speed and more, the Southern Cross has ploughed through the worst weather of her trip and arrived at Brisbane. The Pacific is conquered. The conquest may well remain the chief aviation event of the year. The four fliers worked together harmoniously as a well-matched team. They have well earned all the plaudits now coming to them. Lieutenant Lester Maitland, the first man to fly from California to Hawaii, said the flight of Captain Smith and his companions was the greatest ever made in the history of aviation. His hat was off to them. The difficulties they surmounted probably would never be realised, but they had accomplished what had been generally accepted as impossible in the present state of the development of aviation. MARVELLOUS PERFORMANCE “The Washington Post” says: The successful flight of the Southern Cross from San Francisco to Brisbane constitutes the most notable ocean flight yet accomplished. All sorts of records go to the credit of the four flyers. It must be regarded as the last word in the art of aviation and as another noteworthy advance in the assistance given to the navigators ot the Southern Cross by radio beacons and signals. The efforts and the time devoted to

the preparation for the flight have been well rewarded in its results. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Curtis D. Wilbur, says: The flight is a marvellous performance in navigation and a splendid indication of the air-

man l :’lip of the flyers. They are a credit to the world of aviation. I have been watching the flight with great interest and I am indeed glad to hear they have succeeded in getting through. They are to be commended.