FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1046.PDF
I04S FLIGHT. OCTOBER II, 1934. WHO'S WHO in the" ENGLAND-AUSTRALIA RACE J^"*- " Introducing Some of the Competitors (Continued from page 1022) Racing No. 36.—J. Woods (Australia)J IMMIE WOODS is reluctant to talk about himself, and cannot believe that anyone is interested in such per- sonal matters as his age and birthplace. He was born "in Scotland about thirty-nine years ago," served with R.F.C. and R.A.F., and has flown some 11,000 hours. Like Kingsford-Smith, Woods was for many years— eleven, to be exact—a pilot with West Australian Airways, Ltd., flying Bristol Tourers, DH50AS, Hercules, and Vias- tras up and down the 2,035-mile coastal route from Perth to Wyndham, and across the 1,453-mile transcontinental route from Perth to Adelaide. When the coastal contract was allotted a few months ago to the Robertson-Miller Aviation Co., Ltd. (David Robertson, by the way, is younger brother of Sir Macpherson), Woods became manager of the service, which now extends some 2,400 miles, from Perth (Western Australia) to Katherine (Nor- thern Territory). In 1933 Woods flew a Gipsy II Moth from Australia to England. [In parenthesis, it may be noted that this achievement was omitted from a list of flights between England and Australia published in Flight on August 30. Its author states that the list was compiled from memory, and did not pretend to be complete. Other flights to Australia are those of Moir and Owen, from England; Fraulein Beinhorn, from Germany ; Charles de Verneille, from Paris; and Karl Nauer, from Switzerland.] On Woods' present visit to England, he left Sydney on June 26, spent some time at the Lockheed plant in Bur- bank, Cal., and with the Douglas Company at Santa Monica, and flew across America in one of the new Boeing 247s, which he describes as a very clean job. (Col. Roscoe Turner has entered one of this type for the race.) Woods reached England from New York on August 6, col- lected the late Lt.-Com. Glen Kidston's Vega at Hanworth ten days later, and flew it over to the Lockheed European agents (Fokker) at Rotterdam for general overhaul, in- crease of tankage, and fitting of a Hamilton v/p airscrew. Later, he flew it back to Heston, where it has been re- painted. The name of his co-pilot will be disclosed "at the proper time." It will not be Horace Miller. Woods' young wife took her "A" licence some five years ago with the West Australian Aero Club. . • - TO FLY AMERICAN MOUNTS : Mr. »Jlmmie "Woods will head towards Australia in a Lockheed "Vega" (No. 36), while Col. J. C. Fitzmaurice'sIrish entry is a Bellanca low-wing monoplane. A photograph of the latter machine will be foundon page 1053. Racing No. 44.—K. D. Parmentiev and J.J. Moll (K.L.M.—Holland) Koene Dirk Parmentier was born in Amsterdam on Sep- tember 26, 1904. Trained in the Dutch Air Force, and one of the first Dutch pilots to qualify for a navigator's licence, he joined K.L.M. in 1929 and has flown some 5,000 hr. on its mail routes, chiefly as commander of Amsterdam-Batavia liners. Last year he spent four months in America, night- flying over various routes and studying their operation. Recently he revisited the U.S.A. for acceptance tests of the Douglas DC2 which K.L.M. have entered for the race, and flew it, transcontinent, from Santa Monica (Cal.) to New York, for shipment to Holland. Jan Johannes Moll was born at Surabaya on March 6, 1900, and entered K.L.M. by way of the Netherlands-Indian Air Force and K.N.I.L.M. In 1931, with Capt. Pattist (now K.L.M. Chief of Flying Services at Schiphol), Moll flew a Fokker FVIIB (Abel Tasman) from Batavia to Melbourne and back. His Indian Archipelago flying experience is probably unique. A HOLLAND-AMERICA COMBINATION : K. D.Parmentier and J. J. Moll will pilot a Douglas D.C.2 (No. 44) belonging to the K.L.M. in the Race. Racing No. 62.—J. K. C. Baines and Fit. Lt. l. D. Qilman (New Zealand) Although a "New Zealand" entry, the above team is of Anglo-Australian birth. James Keith Campbell Baines was born at Woodford, Essex, on December 21, 1905; Harold Darwin Gilman at Neutral Bay, Sydney, on April 29, 1906. Baines joined the N.Z.A.F. in 1925, training at Palmerston North and Wairapa. If the Fairey "Fox" which he has entered for the race is not ready to start, it will be through no delay of Baines in reaching England to make preliminary arrangements. He arrived in London from New Zealand on March 26. He sold his Avro "Avian," just before departure, to a brother-officer in the N.Z.A.F. Reserve, and embarked for England in January, via Australia and South Africa. During the ship's stay in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Capetown, Baines kept his hand in with flights on machines hired from the local aero clubs. To date he has flown 3,860 hr. His "Fox" was purchased at Hounslow from Anderson Aircraft and is being modified at Hanworth by N.F.S., Ltd., as a replica of the sister-machine entered by Raymond Parer. Its capacity has been increased to 175 galls., and its range to about 1,750 miles. Whilst await- ing delivery of the "Fox," Baines has been making approach landings at Mildenhall. He expresses himself delighted with the new aerodrome, its freedom from obstruction, its perfect run, and its billiard-table surface. Fit. Lt. Gilman took his "A" in 1926 with the Auckland Aero Club. Shortly afterwards he joined the N.Z. Staff Corps
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
