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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0772.PDF
OCTOBER 21, 1926 ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN FLIGHT Visit to South Sea Islands By Major F. A. De V. ROBERTSON, V.D. "And its twenty thousand mile to our little lazy isle " Where the trumpet orchids blow."—Kipling WHILE Sir Alan Cobham has done more than any other manto popularise the aeroplane as a medium of long-distance travel, we ought not to forget the efforts made by otherBritons in the same direction, though for various reasons they have not received an equal amount of publicity. Thefour long flights by the Royal Air Force immediately come to mind, namely, the journey of the four Fairey machines fromCairo to the Cape and back to England ; the journey of the D.H.9.A bombers from Cairo to Kano in Nigeria and back ;the visit of the Southampton flying boats to the Levant ; and the trip of the Vickers machines from Cairo to Aden andback. Meantime Britons in Australia have not been idle. Thegreat flights by Australians in the past three years have been every whit as creditable and deserve just as much notice. Infact, the Royal Australian Air Force actually set the example to the Royal Air Force. On April 6, 1924, Wing CommanderS. J. Goble, C.B.E., D.S.O., D.S.C., then chief of the Australian Air Staff, set out in a Fairey 3D seaplane with Rolls RoyceEagle engine, piloted by Flight Lieutenant I. E. Mclntyre, C.B.E., A.F.C., to fly right round the coast of Australia. Thedistance was roughly 8,500 miles, and it was accomplished in 44 days. For this feat both officers received the C.B.E.,and the Britannia Trophy was awarded to the pilot. Wing Commander Goble is now Australian Liaison Officer at theAir Ministry, and we much regret to hear that he has just had to undergo an operation for appendicitis in the R.A.F.hospital at Halton. We wish him a speedy recovery and a restoration to complete health—all the more so because his illness is attributed to the effects of the hardships which heunderwent on his famous flight. The second Australian effort was civilian. Colonel H. C.Brinsmead, O.B.E., M.C., Controller of Civil Aviation, in the same year undertook a flight of 7,658 miles round the interiorof Australia in a D.H.50 with Puma engine. The pilot was Captain E. J. Jones, M.C., D.F.C., and Mr. R. H. Buchananaccompanied them as mechanic. They started from Mel- bourne on August 7, 1924, and returned on August 29 aftera flight of 22 days. The latest effort by the R.A.A.F. commenced on September25 last, when the present Chief of the Australian Air Staff, Group-Captain R. Williams, D.S.O., O.B.E., left Melbournein a D.H.50 (previous reports stated in error that the machine was a Supermarine " Seagull "—ED.) with floats (Pumaengine) to explore the South Sea islands. Naturally, the pilot whom he chose was Flight-Lieut. Mclntyre who hadproved his exceptional merit at this sort of work in the Goble flight. They are accompanied by Flight-Sergt. Tristas mechanic. The seaplane which they are using is probably the one ordered by the R.A.A.F. for the special use of theGovernor-General H. E. Lord Stonehaven, which has Duralu- min floats designed and made by Short Bros., of Rochester,though wheels can be substituted at short notice. The South Sea islands always suggest romance. Australiaand New Zealand are British and we have come to regard everything British as Twentieth Century and, therefore,commonplace. It is rather an effort to realise that the palm-fringed atolls of the South Seas, peopled in our imagina-tions by beach-combers and lovely Kanaka maidens, are part of the Australasian geographical system. A comprehensivetour of these islands would mean crossing many stretches of NEW GUINEA THURSDAY 1S(3S2)^\. " (304) CRUZ (300) *' NEW <3R, LAUT0KA(5 SAMOA Is cv, APIA(600) ESPIRITO SANTO (27O)COOKT0WN (27O) ERROMANGO (27O)T0WNSVILLE(4£5) NEW CALEDONIA - 6LADST0NE(27O) BRISBANE(-KX>)AUSTRAL/A TASMAN/A\ .( J /ZEALAND SURVEYING THE PACIFIC ISLANDS FROM THE AIR : Sketch map showing the route over which Group-Capt. R. Williams, of the R.A.A.F., is making his survey of the South Sea Islands in a D.H. 50 seaplane. The flight home will probably follow the same route. The approximate distance between each port of call is given above in nautical miles 688
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