FIRST FLIGHT
O you, remember? Many thousands -of people made their way to Wigram Aerodrome, Christchurch, on the morning of September 11, 1928, when word went round that at last the Southern Cross was on her way across the Tasman, but when Alan Morris, of 3YA, set out 25 years later to write and produce a radio programme about the big occasion he found that personal accounts varied greatly in detail. Still, listeners can be sure he has the best available evidence in Trans-Tasman, a programme about the first crossing of the Tasman Sea by air, which will be
broadcast from YA and YZ stations on the evening of Thursday, September 10, and from ZB stations the following Sunday, September 13. Those who were young at the time will no doubt remember -best the excitement of the arrival or perhaps (like a member of The Listener staff) the resourcefulness needed to get to the aerodrome in time. Older people will rec4ll the big row about whether KingsfordSmith and his crew would be officially welcomed if they landed ona Sunday"Smithy was advised against any desecra‘tion of the Sabbath, and the first thing the Mayor of Christchurch (remembered for his forthright utterances) said when he met the flyer at his hotel was, "Well, I suppose you think I’m a bit of a wowser?" Times (as they say) have changed. Canberras cross the Tasman in two hours and a half-and arrive for a big Sunday morning welcome. The Old Bus, in which many New Zealanders had joy rides, hasn’t so much as been seen by many, if any, of even Australia’s younger generation, though she is stored at Kingsford-Smith Airport, Sydney, in the very hangar used by BCPA aircraft flying the officially-named Southern Cross route to America.,When the permanent international airport is builtand some say that’s a long time cff yet-she will be displayed in the main concourse in a roped-off square. Awaiting that day, her fuselage leans against the wall, her engines are in crates and her wings are slung from the roof--gathering dust.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 26
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342FIRST FLIGHT New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 26
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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