AS CONQUERING HEROES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 679, 3 June 1929, Page 9

AS CONQUERING HEROES

SYDNEY WELCOMES HOME MOIR AND OWEN TWO AIRMEN VERY SHY SYDNEY, Sunday. Flight-Lieutenant J. Moir and Flying-Oflicer H. Owen, piloted in the airplane Atlanta by Pilot Brain, landed at Mascot airdrome, Sydney, about 4 p.m. yesterday. They were received with rousing cheers by a large crowd of people who had waited for them in drizzling rain and miul. The Mayor of Mascot welcomed Moir and Owen with hearty handshakes, and other prominent people, including Sir Keith Smith, showered congratulations and greetings upon them. The party was then driven by motor-car to Mascot,, where the Mayor presented an address to the rescued airmen and complimented them on their safe return to Australia after a hazardous and trying time, in which they had shown wonderful pluck and daring. Flinging cheers were given for the two aviators and extra cheers were given for their rescuer, Pilot Brain, whose skill was eulogised by a number of speakers. An interesting sidelight of the reception was the shyness of Moir and Owen, both of whom, with an evident ring of humiliation in* their voices, said they neither deserved nor expected such an ovation. They expressed the opinion that men like Pilot Brain were more entitled to it. Flight-Lieutenant Moir later said he had definitely finished with flying. He gave no reason for this decision. Flying-Officer Owen’s future is indefinite. Relatives of both men were present at the reception.