RECORD FLIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 February 1939, Page 6

RECORD FLIGHT

BY NEDERLANDS AIR LINER. DARWIN TO SYDNEY. The Royal Netherlands Indies’ Lockheed air liner, flown by Captain van Breeman, established a new Darwin to Sydney record by fiylng the distance of 2225 miles in 12 hours 2 minutes, al an average speed of 185 miles an hour. The Lockheed encountered bad weather after leaving Batavia on Monday at I p.m.. The aerodromes in the Netherlands Indies were flooded because of torrential rains. Captain van Breeman arrived at Darwin on Tuesday. He received an adverse weather report for the route to Cloncurry, and decided to fly to Daly Waters, but after he took off he received a report that the cloud bp.se was- less than 200 ft above the earth at the Daly Waters aerodrome. The Daly Waters radio station is not in operation at all times during the day, having been established mainly for the use of the Guinea Airways service between Darwin and Adelaide, so he decided to return to Darwin, where the night was spent. The Lockheed departed from Darwin at 4.48 a.m. on Wednesday, and arrived at Cloncurry at 9.54 a.m.; departed from Cloncurry at 10.44 a.m. andarrived at Brisbane at 3.45 p.m.; left Brisbane at 4.35 p.m., and landed at Kingsford Smith airport, at 7 p.m. The previous record of 12 hours 12 minutes was held by Captain can Messel of the same line.