JUST FOR LUCK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 1 September 1928, Page 1

JUST FOR LUCK

Though it took a great deal more than luck to make their flight successful, both Kings- I ford Smith and Ulm, when | i they left America, carried | { mascots, just to make sure j that the fates would be with » them. On his flying helmet Kings- { ford Smith wears a little j black and silver cap which he J ! j has had for seven years. Ulm pins his faith to a little t Buddha, which was given to [ I him by a friend in Sydney. It should be a fairly safe i bet that Mr. T. H. McWil- | liams. the radio operator, has ! got a fern-leaf or a kiwi | somewhere about him, but the best mascot of the lot is the sextant of Mr. H. A. Litchfield. ! the navigator. The plane carries a short-wave rad apparatus, and Mr. McWilliams is a a ; enthusiast and an expert in this fot ns ENGINE WIZARD ‘•The man who put the whirl u» i Whirlwinds." was how Flight-Lieuten-* j ant C. T. P. Ulm. co-pilot of th« ! Southern Cross, described. Mr. C. C. Maidment. when he was in Sydney* I The “wizard,” the Americans call him* And there must be something in »r. too. for it was his “vetting” of tlw engines that took the Fokker over »U the thousands of litiles of water she has crossed, without a falter. Mr. Maidment is a member of the service staff of the "Wright Aeronaut i«* • cal Corporation. He it was who supervised the installation of the tlirea Wright Whirlwinds in the machine, and gave them every care while prepara - tions for the flight were being made. So well did he do his job, that when Kingsford Smith got to Australia ami wanted his engines overhauled, before i setting out for Perth, and later fof New Zealand, he cabled to America ful | Mr. Maidment. I Mr. Maidment is British by birth. I and he served four years in the Royal i Air Force. After he joined the Wright : firm, though, he was naturalised ay i an American citizen.