UNDER FORTY HOURS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 32, 8 February 1939, Page 7

UNDER FORTY HOURS

LONDON TO THE CAPE YOUNG AVIATOR SETS NEW RECORD [By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright] CAPETOWN, Feb. 6. Only 39£ hours out from London (6870 miles), the aviator Alex Henshaw, aged 20, who won the King’s Cup race last year, landed at Capetown at 6.59 p.m. G.M.T., thus beating the record set up by Flying-Officer A. E. Clouston and Mrs. B. Kirby-Green, of 45 hours. Henshaw will start the return flight on the morning of February 7. He said he had rough going for most of the journey, beating his hope of clipping six hours off the outward record. He had trouble with ice on the wings over the Atlas Mountains and encountered storms at Oran. He flew through cloudy weather for 1000 miles near the equator, when the machine seemed so out of control that he was tempted to parachute to earth. There were head winds from Windhoek to Capetown.

On November 14-16, 1937, FlyingOfficer Clouston and Mrs. Kirby-Green flew from London to Capetown in 45 hours 6 minutes. They made the return trip on November 18-20 in 2 days 9 hours 23 minutes.

Mr. Henshaw has shown himself a consistent flyer in a number of air races in Britain, and last July he won the King’s Cup after cleverly preparing his machine for this event by modifying it in various directions so that its Gipsy Six engine yielded some 10 n.p. more than its sister craft. Also the airscrew spinner was of different type and dimensions, its cockpit cover of better shape, its wheel spats on different lines, its cowling modified, and its controlling surfaces altered. Mr. Henshaw won two prizes in this race, the £BOO whicn. goes to the winner and £3OO for the fastest time. His rating was revealeu by the fact that on the handicap list only one man was below him; he conceded time to the rest of the field.