A PILOT NOW.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 310, 16 December 1936, Page 3

A PILOT NOW.

Marion Davies To Take To The Air.

Marion Davies, who ■ ranks high among the air-minded cinema stars in hours spent in ’plane .travel, is going to learn to pilot her own ’plane.

Miss Davies disclosed recently on the set of her current Warner Bros, Cosmopolitan production, “Cain and Mabel” in which she and Clark Gable are co-starred, that she plans .to win a private license first but that eventually she expects to earn a transport pilot’s license. She will begin her course of instruction in the very’ near future. Miss Davies has been an enthusiastic air traveller for several years, and although she has no way of accurately estimating the time she has spent aloft she believes it to be several thousand hours. Her flying experience has not been without its thrills, one flight in particular having provided a harrowing experience.

That was during her last European visit when she chartered a ’plane to take herself and her party from Madrid to London. The flight, which normally requires about four and one-half hours, took nine hours because of the storms they encountered. Crossing the English Channel they' were often forced to fly as low as 300 feet due to a low ceiling. The air was extremely bumpy, and down drafts occasionally dropped their ’plane to within a few feet of the water.

“At times,” Miss Davies recalled, “it seemed that our landing gear would surely brush the crests of the waves, but somehow we always managed to gain altitude before another down draft -would seize us.” Miss Davies confessed she was badly frightened on that flight, but apparently it failed to dim her enthusiasm for aviation, for she has since made many long flights. She seldom travels any great distance in any conveyance other than an airplane. Concerning her desire to learn to pilot her own machine, Miss Davies said she felt ithe time is rapidly approaching when airplane pilots will be as common as automobile drivers. She wants to be among the pioneers in this direction.

“Then, too,” she remarged, “when one flies as much as I do one can never tQll when, in ajn emergency, one might be callcl upon Ito take charge of the controls. I’d like to be prepared!”