THE AIR RACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 5

THE AIR RACE.

PROGRESS OF CAPTAIN SMITH FLYING ACROSS INDIA. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyr'ght. Received Nov. 28, 7.20 p.m. Allahabad, Nov. 27. Captain Ross Smith arrived here at 5.6 from Delhi, which he left at 9.30 this morning. He was forced to descend for an hour en route, owing to engine trouble. He is to leave in the morning for Calcutta, and is very optimistic as to the future. He is accompanied by his brother and two Australian sergeants. All are well, and keen on the flight.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. There are now four aeroplanes in flight to Australia. Etienne Poulet, a French aviator, was the first to start. He left Paris on October 14, and has reached India, via Roue, Brindisi, Salonika, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Bagdad, and the Persian Gulf. He is not eligible for the prize of £IO,OOO offered by the Commonwealth Government for the first flight to Australia, as the competition is restricted to Australian airmen. Poulet states that his is purely a sporting venture. He is using a Cauldron G4 machine fitted for a non-stop flight of 13 or 14 hours. It has two rotary 80-horae power engines. He has with him only a mechanic. Captain G. C. Matthews, who is piloting a Sopwith machine, was the first Australian competitor to leave England. He started from Hounslow on October 21, accompanied by Sergeant Kay, as mechanic, and arrived at Cologne on October 22. Since then he has been weather bound on the Rhine, and according to the latest cabled report, he is at Dagsburg, near Strasbourg, in Alsace. Captain Ross Smith, piloting a Vick-ers-Vimy machine, and accompanied by his brother, Lieutenant Keith Smith, and two mechanics, Sergeants J. M. Bennett and W. H. Shiers, left London on November 12. Travelling by way of Rome, Crete, Cairo, Damascus, Bagdad and the Persian Gulf, he has reached Allahabad. This leaves him seventeen days in which to reach Australia and qualify for the Commonwealth Government's prize. The terms of the competition stipulate that the flight must be completed within 720 consecutive hours. Captain Ross Smith has i.lready travelled approximately 5600 miles, and has about 5300 miles further to go before he reaches the Australian coast. The voyage before him is the most arduous part of the undertaking, for the route from Calcutta to Palmerstonj via Burma, the Straits Settlements and the Dutch East Indies, is almost destitute of aerodromes. The last machine to start on the flight was the Blackburn Kangaroo, manned by Captain Wilkins, Lieutenant V. Rendle, Lieutenant O. R. Williams and Lieutenant G. H. Potts, which left London on November 21. It was last reported" to have reached Lyons.