FLYING ATLANTIC

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1928, Page 7

FLYING ATLANTIC

BREMEN LEAVES IRELAND FLIGHT FROM EAST TO WEST GERMANS’ FLY FOR HONOUR PROMINENT MEN IN PLANE By Telegraph—Press Assn —Copyright. Received April 12, 10 p.m. A- and NJ!. London, April 12. The German monoplane Bremen hopped off from Baldonnell, Ireland, on a Might across the Atlantic at 5.30 o’clock this morning. The Irish Free State Premier, Mr. Cosgrove, the German Consul, and 509 spectators saw the machine leave. Kohl, the pilot, states that everything favoured success. The Atlantic weather report was excellent. The aeroplane is taking the great North Circle route. The Bremen passed over Galway at 7.5 a.m., flying strongly. It was last seen at Castleho, twenty miles west of Galway. Visibility was then bad. Kohl is accompanied by Baron Gunther von Huenfeld and. Commander Fitzmaurice, chief of the Irish Free State Air Force. Commander Fitzmaurice, sending a message before the departure of the Bremen said: “In view of her geographical position in reference to future pir transport, it is appropriate that Ireland should be associated with the present flight, discouraging criticism thereof which could be answered by the simple statement that every success requires a certain amount of risk. By the time this is published we will be a hundred miles from the Irish coast. God willing, 30 hours thereafter we will reach New York and claim the conquest of the Atlantic westwards.” Hard on the heels of the Hinchcliffe tragedy comes another trans-Atlantic venture, stated a cable on March 26. A German Junkers aeroplane, the Bremen, piloted by Herr Koehl, with a mechanic, Herr Spindler, and a passenger, Baron Gunther von Huenfeld, took off from Berlin at 8 o’clock this morning and landed at Baldonnell aerodrome, Ireland, this afternoon. It was welcomed by the chief of the Irish air force. :Tie Bremen is the same aeroplane as wi i used in an attempt in August of lass year to carry mails from Berlin to America. The attempt was abandoned. The utmost secrecy was observed by the three friends when they left Templehof aerodrome. The name Bremen was painted on the fuselage only last night, and no destination was announced, the airmen stating that they were likely to engage in a long distance flight. It is understood that a route via Ire land was mapped out in order to avoid detection. These tactics were successful in so far as the aeroplane was not sighted until it landed in Ireland. One reason for secrecy is the German feeling against ocean flights, Li view of last year's tragedies, has grown since Hinchcliffe was lost. The airmen feared possible Government interference. The Bremen is equipped with wireless but has no collapsible boat. Though be airmen’s plans were unknown to iheir relatives, it transpires that the authorities of the Free S'ate were expecting the aeroplane, because two German mechanics have been at Baldonnell for a week.

It is reported that the aeroplane, before going to Ireland, detoured through Holland for the purpose of hovering over Doorn long enough to drop a bouquet to the cx-Kaiser. Baron Huenfeld is a bachelor and Prussian aristocrat. He is a friend of the ex-Crown Prince. He served in the war, was wounded, and now has a large number of medals. A victim of the inflation of the currency, he spent his last penny in financing this adventure, it is stated, besides collecting from friends for the purpose of insuring the crew for £lO,OOO, though he is not injured himself. He carries a loaded rerolver which he admits he will substitute for life-saving apparatus.