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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0844.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 26, 1933 England—Australia In under Seven Days midday, Saturday, was reached during After only two and T is not often that FLIGHT has to record, in two suc cessive issues, the breaking of a record for a flight between two places. Mr. Ulm has, however, given " us the opportunity of so doing ; not that Mr. Ulm's flight from England to Australia is comparable with Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith's flight over the same route ; it is not, but more on that subject later. First, let us give the details of the flight. Mr. Ulm left Harmondsworth aerodrome at 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, October 12, as was recorded in FLIGHT for last week. He flew the 1,670 miles to Athens in one hop, arriving at the latter place soon after noon on the next day. Later in the evening he set off for Baghdad, and, flying^ through the night, arrived there about October 14. Karachi, the next halt, the afternoon of Sunday, October 15. a-half hours on the ground, Mr. Ulm once more took off bound for Calcutta, which he intended to reach without an intermediary stop, but was forced, by head winds and heavy rain, to land at Gaya in Bengal ; eventually he landed at Calcutta, a short, time before midday on Mon day, October 16. Within 20 min. of his arrival the machine was once more wheeled out ready to take off again, but the central engine failed, and it was not until the next morning, Tuesday, October 17, that he left the ground and flew on to Akyab, where he arrived about midday. About four hours later Akyab was left behind, and, flying through the night, Mr. Ulm reached Alor Star just about in time to see the sun rise, on the morning of Wednesday, October 18. After a short rest for refuelling the flight was continued, and Singapore was reached soon after midday, and left behind a few hours later. Early in the morning of Thursday, October 19, Sourabaya was reached, and about five hours later, after two failures to get off the soft ground, Mr. Ulm was on the last stage of his flight. Finally, at midnight, or a few minutes after, the machine landed on Australian soil, at Derby, Western Australia. To sum it all up, England was left at 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, October 12, and Australia reached at 4.15 in the afternoon (G.M.T.) of Thursday, October 19, which is a total time of 6 days 17 hr. 45 min., for a distance of just on 10,000 miles. The actual flying time was about 115 hr. With the aid of a little mental arithmetic, and/or a slide rule, it will thus be found that in 162 hours, the time taken by the flight, 115 hours were spent in the air. A detailed log of the flight is given in the accompanying table. Mr. Ulm had with him two companions, both pilots, Messrs. J. Allan and P. V. Taylor. A third, Mr. John Edwards, appeared to have been with them in spirit if not actually in body, for how else can all the mistakes in the daily Press (yes, and even in FLIGHT for last week— Alas ! even the mighty fall at times !) be accounted for ? The machine Faith in Australia is an Avro X, fitted with three Wright " Whirlwind J.6 " engines. It was once called the Southern Moon, but since those days has been considerably altered. The wing, which is of wooden con struction, has been widened, lengthened and strengthened, the axles have been altered, and the fuselage strengthened. In fact, the machine has been converted from a passenger machine into a long-range machine. Before leaving Australia it underwent trials with a load of 1,120 gall, of petrol on board, a total weight of 16,000 lb. Faith in Australia was to have been flown round the world, but unfortunately came to grief over in Ireland, which necessi tated a short time in hospital before she was ready to go into the air again. A. V. Roe, Ltd., however, proved very capable doctors, and Faith in Australia was soon once more on her legs ; presumedly this little flight to Australia was just in the nature of recuperation, with the thought of some sterner work ahead. Mr. Ulm appears to have ex perienced slight trouble with his engines. At Calcutta, for instance, one of them refused to start, perhaps it did not like the weather, and sighed for the more sunny climes of its native land ; there are, of course, British engines of a like horse-power which are not quite so fastidious. For accurate navigation, so essential on a long-distance flight, Mr. Ulm and his companions relied on Smiths' instru ments, including a special drift plate, P.4 com pass, and a Husun turn and bank indicator. Among the difficulties encountered on this particular flight must have been the risks of landing on, and taking off from, soft aerodromes ; at Sourabaya, for instance, several runs had to be made before the machine left the deck, but Faith m Australia, even though heavily loaded, stood up to it, due The Faith in Australia and her crew, including Mr. Edwards (white sweater), wireless operator, who did not accompany Mr. Ulm ! 1065
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