Flight to England

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 709, 8 July 1929, Page 1

Flight to England

SOUTHERN CROSS AT BAGDAD May Reach Croydon Tuesday JOURNEY WILL HAVE TAKEN 12 DAYS rE Southern Cross, flying from Australia to England, reached Bagdad yesterday. Today the airmen are flying to Athens. Should the monoplane reach Croydon tomorrow evening, as Smith and his comrades wish to do, the flight from Derby, Western Australia, to England will have taken 12 days. Bert Hinkler’s great solo flight from England to Australia in February last year occupied 15 J days. (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service)

Reed. 9.45 a.m. BASRA, Sunday. | The monoplane Southern Cross, j with Squadron-Leader Kingsford ; Smith, Flight-Lieutenant C. T. P. Ulm (co-pilots), Mr. H. A. Litchfield (navi- 1 gator) and Mr. T. H. McWilliams (wireless operator), left Karachi at 5.55 a.m. today and reached Basra at j 12.45 p.m. The monoplane left almost , immediately for Bagdad. The crew spent yesterday in repair- j ing the engines of the machine. Reed. Noon. BAGDAD, Sunday. The Southern Cross has reached Bagdad, and will leave for Athens to- j morrow. Following are the details of the j flight of the Southern Cross to date: June 25. —Left Richmond, Sydney, for Derby, Western Australia, about '■ 2,100 miles. June 26. —Arrived at Derby after flight of 22 hours 5 minutes. June 27. —Left Derby for Singapore, about 2,020 miles. June 28. —Arrived at Singapore. June 29. —Left Singapore and landed at Singora, Siam, about 458 mil-as. June 30.—Arrived at Rangoon, Burma, from Singora, about 690 miles. July 2.—Left Rangoon and arrived at Calcutta, about 660 miles. July 3.—Flew from Calcutta to Allahabad, about 460 miles. July 4. —Flew from Allahabad to Karachi, about 890 miles. July 6. —Flew from Karachi to Bagdad, via Basra. The airmen are making Athens their next hop instead of Rome. This calls to mind the fact that it was Athens where Capta.in Frank Hurley, FlightLieutenant Moir, and Flying-Officer

Owen came to grief in their attempt to fly from Australia to England. Their airplane, The Spirit of Australia, ran over a bank and was smashed. That ended the attempt. Should Kingsford Smith and comrades get to England around 1 - days, it will be one of the most notable distance flights tvfr made. Kingsford Smith and Ulrn. in the tic after the completion ol theii bu ness in London if their plans work out to schedule. The first stop in the fiight-round-ti world sequence will be Madrid, the. \ to Sierra Leone, from where they w. cross the Atlantic at practically the narrowest section to Pernambuco, Brazil. The route will then be north to Panama, across the gulf to Miami, and thence direct to New Y’ork. There is every prospect of the monoplane being sold in the L'nited States. Thus one of the most famous airplanes in the world will go back to its own land. The great Fokker, equipped with American Wright-Whirlwind engines. was bought for Smith and Ulm by Mr. Allan Hancock, the Los Angeles banker, who, seeing their difficulties when they were in America, agreed to assist them. Then they made their epic dash across the Pacific to Australia. and as a reward Mr. Hancock made them a gift of the plane.