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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1287.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 11, 1931 ATLANTIC FLIERS, OLD AND NEW: Bert Hinkler (centre) is introduced by Sir Geoffrey Salmond (left) to Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, who flew the Atlantic in 1919. (FLIGHT Photos.) Straightway I asked him " Why did you do it, Bert?"and he grinned in his whimsical way as he replied " I don't know." Then he went on to tell us that he hadtried to bring off some scheme of his own in Canada, and had bought his " Puss Moth " for that purpose. When hemet with no success there, he thought he would try how things were in South America. He summed up all possi-bilities, and tested his machine. He was satisfied that he had tanks which would enable him to fly where he wantedto go. His flight to Jamaica was a test flight, and no light one. He had no navigation lights on his machine. (Iregret to say that Hinkler has adopted the American habit of speaking of an aeroplane as a " ship." In the Englishlanguage, I may remind him, the only aircraft which is so referred to is an airship.) Therefore he could not make along enough flight starting from and landing on American soil. So he left New York in the afternoon at 2 p.m. andlanded at Kingston next morning at 8 a.m. No one could say aught to him because he flew across the open sea bynight. But he said that it was a very trying trial. He had no lights over his instruments, and he trusted tothe moon to enable him to read them. But he ran into a bad storm, and so the moon was not able to do its part.However, he had two compasses and one of them was luminous, so he got to Kingston all right. This flightwas a good test of his success in navigation. It was 1,800 miles in length. Asked about how he managed to navigate, he said thatof course it was all done by dead reckoning. There were many ways in which he could check his drift while flyingover the sea. Often a cloud gave him a point to calculate by. He had no flares with him, and so he could not dropthem. He did not have his compass swung after each stage of his flight. He had two, and he was always check-ing them as he flew. His tanks gave him a capacity suffi- cient for 25 hours at a cruising speed of 100 m.p.h. Healways kept his eye on his clock. The clock and the direction were most important. If he had to deviate toget round a storm, he flew for so long in one direction, and then for an equal time on the other tack to get back on tohis course. He stayed 10 days in Jamaica, and then set off forMaracaibo, in Venezuela, a flight of 620 miles. He was asked about the story of his being arrested there, butmerely grinned, and answered " If drinking beer with the Governor in his garden is being arrested ." On thatflight he had a further test of his navigating powers, for when he started the wind was blowing in one direction,and when he arrived it was blowing in exactly the oppo- site direction. Still he got there. Then he got on to talking about his Atlantic flight,though still keeping silent about the motives which prompted him to undertake it. When he left Natal he hadan overload of 500 1b. and he flew about 5 ft. above the water. When it got dark he could not see the water, andhe had to climb. At 8 p.m. he met storm clouds, " real blocks of concrete," which stretched up to perhaps 25,000or 30,000 ft. He could not climb above them, but he went up to about 12,000, and flew through them until2.30 a.m. the next morning. When he got into the clouds " then the fireworks started." He had never before seensuch lightning. From close quarters the streaks of flame looked " like a telegraph pole," and he always thoughtthat the next would go right through the " ship." Asked why he had made Bathurst instead of Dakar,he said that he never intended to make Dakar. He actu- ally aimed at a point some miles south of Bathurst,because it was a point easy to recognise, with a group of islands on his right. He made land within 10 miles ofthat spot. Obviously he much preferred to land on British soil. Asked if he carried a rubber boat, he said that if hehad flown into the sea he did not think that he would have been much interested in rubber boats. But he hadtested out his " ship " thoroughly, he had confidence in it, and in his own powers of navigation. I asked him if he intended to carry on work with his" Ibis " amphibian, and he said that he certainly did if he could raise the money. F. A. DE V. R. On December 8 the Master of Sempill gave a supperparty at the Dorchester in honour of Bert Hinkler and Dr. Hugo Eckener, who is on a visit to England. Thesame evening Hinkler broadcast a talk from the B.B.C. on his flight. The Royal Aero Club is giving a House Dinner onWednesday, December 16, at 7.30 p.m., to welcome back Sq. Ldr. Bert Hinckler. Members wishing to attend arerequested to apply to the House Secretary, Royal Aero Club, 119, Piccadilly, W.I. ON ENGLISH SOIL ONCE MORE: Bert Hinkler taxying in his " Puss Moth" after landing at Hanworth. (FLIGHT Photo.) 1209 c 2
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