THE AOTEAROA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1940, Page 4

THE AOTEAROA

RETURN-TRIP FROM SYDNEY. GOOD TIME MADE IN BAD WEATHER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, May 1. Making her second fastest crossing of the Tasman in 7 hours 59 minutes, the flying-boat Aotearoa returned from Sydney this afternoon to complete the first round trip in the Tasman Empire Airways commercial service between New Zealand and Australia. She carried five passengers, about 45,000 letters, including 10,000 from Britain, and about 1671 b. of freight, including a number of cinematograph films. Before dawn Captain Burgess, his officers and crew, the same who took the flying-boat from Auckland to Sydney, and the passengers embarked at the Rose Bay base ,and were farewelled by a large number of officials and friends. The flying-boat circled over Sydney and headed toward New Zealand. It was blind flying for the first two hours, and then, shortly after sunrise, the flying-boat again encountered bad weather. Heavy rain and hail was met.' and later at an altitude of 9000 feet there was a snowstorm. Precautions were taken against ice formation, and at one stage it was necessary to wind in the aerial for a time, because of an electrical storm. At no time, however, did conditions cause any perturbation either to the crew or the passengers. For five and a half hours the flyingboat maintained an altitude of 8000 feet, meeting intermittent cloud at first, but flying in the sunshine above the clouds for most of the last 500 miles. Conditions improved rapidly nearing the New Zealand coast, and the flyingboat reached Auckland in perfect weather at 1.38 p.m.