FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0394.PDF
FLIGHT, APRIL 29, 1932 From Paris to Cape Town In 31 Days Goulette and Salel Accomplish the Journey in Record Time THE FARMAN 190 : It was on a similar type of machine to this, fitted with a 300-h.p. Lorraine engine, that Goulette and Salel accomplished their flight from Paris to Cape Town in 3| days. •* ||r-'HE two well-known French airmen, MM. Goulette \^2 [I and Salel, who last November flew from Paris JIL to Madagascar in 4 days 8 hours, and back to Paris the following month in 5 days, have just added another achievement to their list of long-distance flights. This time they have entered the sphere of aerial activity previously tackled by British pilots and machines, viz., from Europe to the Cape. Flying a similar route to that recently taken by Mr. J. A. Mollison when he flew from Lympne along the West Coast of Africa to the Cape in 4 days 17 hours 19 minutes, the French airmen, start ing from Le Bourget, accomplished the journey in 3 days 17 hours 15 minutes. It should be noted that the distance from Lympne to the Cape via this West Coast route is about 200 miles longer than from Le Bourget, although some reports state that the Frenchmen actually flew a greater distance than Mollison. The two French airmen, Salel piloting and Goulette act ing as navigator, left Le Bourget, in a Farman 190 monoplane (300 h.p. Lorraine air-cooled radial), at 5.25 a.m. on April 17, and apparently flew non-stop to Colomb Bechar, Morocco, about 1,250 miles. Their next hop was across the Sahara to Niamey, a little over 1,300 miles. Following this they accomplished another long hop of nearly 1,500 miles to Point Noire, French Gabon, and next they proceeded to Walvis Bay, another 1,300 miles, where they arrived at 1.50 p.m. on April 20. Two hours later they resumed their flight, and later the same evening they were seen over Port Nolloth, about 360 miles from Cape Town. Round about midnight they reached Cape Town, where a large crowd was waiting to welcome them. Then, in the early hours of April 21, they landed by the aid of the aerodrome floodlights, as the enthusiastic crowd sang the " Marseillaise." As soon as they got out of their machine they were mobbed by the crowd, and police had great difficulty in escorting them from the aerodrome to their hotel. They stated that they had encountered head winds throughout from Paris, and but for this would have reached Cape Town some eight hours earlier. A tribute to " Shell " organisation has been made by Goulette in the following telegram he sent to Shell-Mex & B.P., Ltd.: — " Connaissant bien 1'excellence de 1'organisation des depots Shell pour l'avoir apprecie au cours de plusieurs raids, j'ai pris le depart de Paris pour Cape Town sans avoir fait aucun arrangement special pour les ravitaille- ments persuade que j'etais que de toutes les escales quels qu'elles soient je pourrais acheter de l'essence et de l'huile Shell de la meme maniere qu'au cours d'une promenade en auto. Le resultat de notre raid a completement justifie ma confiance dans le service de Shell aviation puisque nous avons reussi la liaison Paris-Capetown en 3 jours 17 heures 15 minutes.—GOUI.ETTE." SCOTT'S ENGLAND-AUSTRALIA FLIGHT Only 500 Miles (at the Time of Writing) to Beat the Record ~J|T\ Y the time this issue of FLIGHT is in the hands of I ~S. our readers Mr. C. W. A. Scott wi?l, we hope, _ILc_/ have succeeded in bettering the 9 days 2 hr. 29 min. for a flight between England and Australia established last year by Mr. C. A. Butler, in a Comper " Swift " (Pobjoy " R " engine). At the time of writing Mr. Scott was about to take off from Koepang on the last 500 odd miles to Port Darwin and was eight hours ahead of the previous record. He is flying the same " Gipsy Moth " he used on his previous record flight, and we give below his daily progress up to the final stage—for the result of which we, unfortunately, must wait until our next issue. As reported last week, Mr. Scott left Lympne at dawn on April 19, and flew non-stop to Brindisi. After a stop for refuelling he proceeded to Aleppo, where he arrived at 7 p.m., April 20. He took off at 1.15 a.m. the next morning, and when he arrived at Baghdad later he was a few hours ahead of C. A. Butler's time. Continuing almost immediately he pushed on to Basra, encountering dust storms and head winds which delayed his arrival there until late afternoon. He set out again at 2.30 a.m., April 22, and reached Karachi early on April 23, leaving again an hour later for Jhansi. From here he flew to Calcutta, having flown across India in one day. From Calcutta he flew to Rangoon next day, April 24, and left again almost immediately for Singapore, where he arrived on the evening of April 25. He was then 800 miles ahead of Butler's record. Batavia was reached the following morning, and after a brief halt he continued on to Sourabaya. When he reached Sourabaya Mr. Scott looked tired and exhausted, but when he took off at 6 a.m. on April 27 for the final section he was in good spirits and confident of winning back the record. He reached Koepang 1 hr. 40 mins. later, where he indulged in a short but well- earned rest before taking off for the sea trip to Darwin. The log of Mr. Scott's flight, compared with that of Mr. Butler's, is as follows (Scott started on April 19 ; approxi mate distances in miles shown in brackets): — 1 1st day 2nd day 3rd day 4th day 5th day 6th day 7th day 8th day 9th day 10th day 5COTT. . Brindisi (1,100). . Aleppo (1,000). . Basra (750). Karachi (1,230). . Calcutta (1,350). . Rangoon (640). . Singapore (1,000). . Sourabaya (1,000). . Koepang (800)— BUTLER. Naples (950). Athens (550). Baghdad (1,200). Jask (960). Jhansi (1,270). Akyab (970). Victoria Pt. (800) Batavia (1,270). Koepang (1,260). Darwin (530). 370
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
