WORLD FLIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1938, Page 8

WORLD FLIGHT

ATLANTIC CROSSING AS FIRST STAGE HOWARD HUGHES INTENT ON NEW RECORD. CREW OF FOUR IN “FLYING LABORATORY.” (Recd This Day, 1.25 p.m.) NEW YORK, July 10. Howard Hughes took off at 5.20 p.m. for Paris on a non-stop flight, hoping to complete the trip in 22 hours. He will probably continue from Paris in an attempt to fly round the world in four days, which woulji be three days faster than Wiley Post’s flight in 1933. Mr Hughes is piloting a twin-motored Lockheed “Flying Laboratory,” christened “New York World Fair, 1939.” He carries invitations to aero clubs, throughout the world to participate in the Fair. There is a crew of four. The weather is favourable and the wind from the south-west, promising a tail wind on the great circle route. ELABORATE EQUIPMENT. At thirty-minute intervals it is planned to broadcast the position and progress of the plane and scientific data. The radio equipment is the most elaborate ever used on such a flight. The instruments include three transmit-’ ters and two radio compasses built especially for the flight. Radio operations on most flights are limited to three wave-lengths, but Mr Hughes is equipped to use voice or code on seventeen wave-lengths. The monoplane has a wing-span of 65 feet, a capacity for 1732 gallons of petrol and 120 gallons of oil, a speed of 250 miles an hour and a flying range of 4700 miles.