THE FLIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1919, Page 5

THE FLIGHT.

THE FULL STORY. AN ABSORBING NARRATIVE. #ANY DIFFICULTIES MET WITH. By Telegraph.—Press Received Dec 12, 8.30 p.m. Sydney, Dec. 12. The Sun has received from Darwin an exclusive story of Captain Roes Smith's flight as follows: "We started from the Hounalow aerial station at nine o'clock on the morning of November 12th, and crossed the channel to Boulogne, where we struck a big storm With snow clouds. We were almost frozen to death when we landed at Lyons, just before dark. Next morning we continued the journey southward, and flew over Cannes and Monte Carlo in splendid weather, thence by San Remo and the Gulf of Genoa to Pisa, where the machine bogged as we landed. Italian soldiers extricated the machine, but owing to pouring rain we were detained in Pisa during the next day. * "On the following morning, when starting, we got bogged. After much trouble, Sergeant Bennett jumped off the tail plane, and the engines starting, he narrowly missed being left behind, Sergeant Shiers just managing to haul him aboard. The weather was cloudy and the land was hidden. We flew seaward and then shaped a course for Rome, where we speat the night. "From Bum we crossed the Appeniaea, laving a tampy trip to Naples. We tiled io have a look at Vesuvius, but it was covered wtth heasw clouds. We landed !St Taranto, and employed the rest of the day there overhauling the machine. FLYJKG OVER MOTJNTAINS. "On the sixth day we left Taranto at daylight for Corfu, through heavy clouds and rain, along the coast of Morea. We •truck really bad weather, with pouring rain, in th» Gulf of Corinth. At an altitude of five hundred feet over the sea I had for two and a half hours to right my Way through rain, dodging little islands. Goggles wore useless, so thick was the downpour. We carried this weather as far as Crete, where we spent the night, but did not get much sleep owing to unwelcome bed companions. "We crossed the Cretan Mountains •mid clouds, all the time being afraid of Jutting one of the mountain peaks. From Crete we made due south across the Mediterranean for Solium, in Africa, 250 miles away. We reached this point in three hours, and from there made due east to Cairo, where we arrived after a fleven and a half hours' non-stop flight.

OVER OLD BATTLEFIELDS. "Nest morning we headed the Vimy for. Damascus, knowing this portion of the journey well, having flown over it in war time. We carried rain all the way to Damascus, and it was still raining next Wrning when we started for Bagdad. 7 Acr'oss the desert the elouds were Very low, and we could only fly the machine at about fifteen hundred feet. We met a head wind on striking the River Euphrates, and this prevented us from reaching Bagdad before dark. "So at Ramadie we were taken care of by the 10th Indian Lancers, who tied the machine up facing the wind. During the night the wind changed, and grew to a gale. The crew had to turn out and hang on to the aeroplane. We managed to secure it, suffering only the breakage of a control wire.

"Next morning, after repairs, we crossed Kut and other battlefields of the Meiopotamian campaign to Basra. This 7?* Kt good fl y™K **? ™e we left England. As the crew were tired, and the machine required an overhaul, we spent the day at Basra, and got away again at sunrise for Bnndar Abbas, landing after a flight of eight hours. The route was over an absolute desert and rugged mountain country. JOUENEY ACROSS INDIA.

"Daylight again taw us moving for Karachi, taking another eight and a half hours' flight at a stretch. Here, as elsewhere, we received every assistance from officers of the Air Force and others. Thence by a non-stop nine hour run across the Bind desert to Rajputana, we reached Delhi. During the last three days we had travelled sixteen hundred miles #nd epent 25J hours out of fifty-four in the air. "At Delhi, General Mewan, Officer • Commanding the Air Forces, made ar- • rangements for oil and other supplies ttaraghottt India. Up to this stage everything had gone remarkably well with the machine, and engines and crew were excellent We spent a day in Delhi resting. overhauling and securing clean clothes. "Wi.fot away early next morning for Allahabad, and arrived in the afternoon. The day following we reached Calcutta at mid-day, a great crowd welcoming us at the racecourse. Next day we made a short flight to Akyab. When approaching Afcyab we noticed another machine in the aerodrome, which proved to be Poulet's, .

"Next day -we flew to Rangoon, where we lad another enthusiastic reception. Thousands visited the racecourse to see the landing and inspect the machine. Poulet arrived shortly after. We greatly admired his plnck in tackling the huge job in a small machine, accompanied by a "ingle mechanic.

"Rett day we started for Bangkok, and flew over the mountains at a height of six, thousand feet. *We thence followed the railway and the river Mekong down to the Siamese Government aerodrome. Evsty assistance was given by the Siamese authorities. Departing on the following day, we were escorted for fifty mfjes by four Siamese machines. A DIS'i'ICULT LANDING. "After a two hours' flight we ran into a monsoon and were compelled to descend, fallowing the coastline in blinding rain. Tie weather cleared before reaching Singora, where we made a precarious landing among stumps, having missed the landing place, and damaging the tail skid. Bennett engaged some coolies to engage-in repair work, but they struck at t|e heavy nature of the work, and much persuasion in sign language was required it order to get the job finished. MeanTfhlle petrol supplies had run short, and I telegraphed to Penang for two hundred gallons. "Next morning, on awakening, the heaviest rain ever experienced was falling, and naif the aerodrome was under inter. After overhauling the engines, jjkgTtgtuitM that atess be takes to clear

a path to enable us to get the machine off. Two hundred convicts from the gaol did the necessary work. Petrol arrived in the evening, but it wag still raining heavily. During the night the crew had •to turn out and hang on to the machine.

"We attempted to start early in the morning, but got badly bogged. We managed, with Bome difficulty, to get out, and made another start through patches of water six inches deep, but we gathered sufficient way to carry through. In Singora we were the guests of Prince Ynyla, who placed his bungalow at our disposal and gave every assistance. THE WORST STAGE.

The next stage of the journey led near Penang to Singapore, where we had I another great reception, including an enI tertainment by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Malaya. I "After a day's rest we started for Eallejati. This was a distance of nearly seven hundred miles, and the worst stage of the journey as regards landing ground. We travelled down the east coast of i Sumatra, and then turned over the sea I to Batavia, where everywhere the country was densely wooded. We saw only one place—Bauku Island—where we could have landed the machine. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies welcomed us at Kellejati. "We expected the last stage of the journey from Singapore to Darwin to be most difficult, but the Governor-General, as soon as he heard the flight had been arranged, ordered aerodromes to be constructed at various points in the Dutch Islands. These aerodromes greatly facilitated the remaining stages of the journey. Without them it would have been difficult to complete the last stage of the seventeen hundred miles of flight. "Next day we went from Kallejati to We struck trouble in landing, and the machine sank to its axles in mud. A local engineer directed two hundred coolies and assisted in getting the Vhny out after many hours of work. A road of bamboo mats three hundred yards long was made, enabling the machine to >get a run. After running for some distance, some of the mats caught the tail and swerved the machine round off the track. Once more we bogged badly, and decided to widen the track.. By twelve o'clock we had made it 350 yards long and twenty yards wide, and succeeded in getting off, bamboo flying in all directions from the propellors. THE FINAL SECTION. I "We flew to Bima, where we were entertained by the local Sultan, and next morning we started for Timor, where we landed safely on the 40th. The crew was up at dawn, but a thick fog delayed a start till 8.30, when we headed for Darwin, flying on a compass bearing. "After being out of sight of land for t\ro hours, we sighted the warship Sydney. We had no wireless, so we dropped a message in a bottle attached to a parachute, stating we were all well. The message was picked up. Two hours after leaving the Sydney, we sighted Bathuret Island, our first glimpse of Australia, and three-quarters of an hour later we reached Darwin.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

MANY TRIBUTES. New York, Dec. 10.' The New York Times says editorially: "Ross Smith has done a wonderful thing for the prestige of the British Empire. He must be hailed as the foremost living aviator, for he never blundered or faltered."

London, Dec. 10. In the House of Commons Mr. Churchill confirmed the news of Ross Smith's arrival, and offered congratulations amid cheers. In the House of Lords, Lord Montague mentioned the matter and said it marked an epoch in the history of the air force. Received Dec. 13, 12.55 a.m. London, Dec. 10. General Sir F. H. Sykes (Director of Civilian Aviation), sent a message or congratulation to the Vickers and the Rolls Roy'oe Companies for providing the winner of the Australian and Atlantic flights The Aero Club tad a conferenoe with Mr. Andrew jfisher .High Commissioier for Australia, and decided to subject to verification the machine, and to em that Captain Ross Smith has fulfilled all conditions. The club cabled congratulations to Captain Ross Smith on his epoch making flight.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. POULET FINISHED. GIVES UP THE FLIGHT. Received Dec. 13, 12.30 a.m. Allahabad, Dec. 12. Poulet has abandoned his flight, owing to a piston in one engine having broken. He is returning to France by steamer from Moulmein Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CAPTAIN MATTHEWS, NOW IN THE BALKANS. Received Dec. 13, 12.55 a.m. London, Dec. 11. Captain Matthews, has reached Bel-grade,—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn, A NEW COMPETITOR. TO START THIS MONTH.

Received Dec. 12, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 10. Parer, who hopes to start on his Australian flight about the 20th, ha 3 secured a De Haviland machine, fitted with a 680-horse power six-cylinder SiddcleyPuma engine, with a cruising speed of 90 miles an hour, and a range of a thousand miles. The machine is similar to those used in the London-Paris mail service. Lieut. J. M. Mcintosh, formerly of Bridgetown, accompanies Parer, having secured a commission in the Royal Air Force at his own request, in lieu of payment for his invention of aerial ground shrapnel bombs, which the War Office accepted in October, 1918, when too late for Use in the war.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

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