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SCOTT'S FLIGHT.
Ambition Fulfilled.
"I IMAGINED that this flight was
merely fulfilling the ambition of
my life. Since I have arrived here
people say it is much more than that.
They say it is going to definitely speed
air mails between England and this
country, and thus draw the two coun
tries closer together. What has been
done by me in a light machine can be
done in faster time with a multiple
engined machine, so that I believe it
fill not be long before Engand and
Australia will be brought into closer
touch with each other."
This was a passage in a breezy,
speech broadcasted throughout Aus
tralia from 4QG by Flying-Officer C.
W. A. Scott subsequent to his arrival
in Brisbane on April 14. The account
he gave of his adventures and diffi
culties of his flight showed clearly
the characteristic way in when he
made light of his troubles.
"Hello, people of Australia," was the
prefatory greetings. "Scott speaking
now. lam frightfully glad to have
this chance of speaking to Australians,
although I cannot see you. After the
cordial and most spontaneous recep
tion I met with in Brisbane to-day
I am glad of this opportunity to ex
press my thanks. lam not going to
say I had a difficult time on the way
out. I have been extremely fortunate.
Nobody enjoys hard work, and certainly
flying is hard work, but having got
through this job I am frightfully glad
to be here, where I find I am among
all my friends again. When I landed
in Australia four years ago I knew
nobody, but in that comparatively
short time I have made a host of
friends, who, I hope, I will keep for
the rest of my life.
Story of the Flight.
"T SUPPOSE you would like to hear
something about my flight," he said.
"To say anything about it in a few
words is rather difficult. Throughout
the journey I did not feel that I was
alone. I considered my engine in the
light of a personal friend, so you will
understand when I use the pronoun
'we' in regard to this trip. I left
Australia 34 months ago in order to
go to England to collect this machine
fly back here. Before I left I
told a lot of my friends that if I were
successful in breaking this record it
would be largely a matter of luck.
Now that the record Is actually re
duced, I again say that record-break
ing over long distances is definitely
a matter of luck. We left England just
before sun-up on April 1. I could have
made by departure on the previous
day, but there were certain formalities
to be gone through with the Persian
Government in order to fly over that
country, and we did not; actually get
permission until March 31. On, that
day there was a head wind blowing
35 miles an hour, and as I wanted to
do 1100 miles on the first day I de
cided to wait another 24 hours. On
April 1 the weather reports were good.
My people, who had come down on the
previous day to see me off, could not
repeat the journey of 60 miles, so there
was really no one to say good-bye to
me. I was told by the weather prophets
that when I got out four hundred
miles the head wind which was blow
ing 20 miles an hour would change
into a tail wind. W do not alto
gether believe these weather prophets,
but what the meteorological people
said on this occasion actually occurred-
I was favoured with a good tail wind,
and I made Belgrade th; first night.
The first half of the Journey took
eight hours, and the second half took
just half the time.
Wont Weather Conditions.
rPHE next stage of the journey wa3
to be Aleppo. I had heard that there
was a big range of mountains between
Belgrade and Sofia, but nobody had
told me anything about the Taurus
Mountains, which are about 180 miles
from Aleppo. I managed to get over
the first range of mountains all right,
but when I came to the Taurus Moun
tains I met the worst weather con
ditions I experienced during the trip.
I ran into snow storms, hail, and
heavy rain storms, and everything was
as miserable as it could be. As I flew
upwards the mountains seemed to
come up with me, and I did not know
where I could find a pass through
them. Fortunately I found a river,
which I followed. I thought that the
river must lead me to the valleys on
the Syrian side of the mountain. A
railway ran almost parallel to the
river. A railway is the airman's best
friend, because it is always marked
on the map. I therefore left the river
and followed the railway for some time.
But I found that railways have a
horrible habit of going through moun
tains. I lost the railway when it went
into a tunnel. I therefore went back
to the river and followed that, and it
led me right through the mountains
to my destination. Owing to the bad
weather conditions, and the time spent
in finding a way through the moun
tains, I failed to reach Aleppo by 35
miles, and I landed in a field just as
ie was getting dark. The next morn
ing I flew to Aleppo, where I filled
up with petrol and oil, but as that
took some time I decided to make an
easy day of it, and make my next
stopping point Bagdad—a flight of 450
miles from Aleppo.
Half ? Day Behind.
"T HAD hoped to reach Darwin in 8S
days, but on the third day I was
half a day behind my programme. I,
therefore, decided to make one and a
half days' flight in just one day. I
started off very early, and got to
Bushire just after sunrise. I had to
go through some slight formalities with
the Customs Department. They put
me through as quickly as they could,
but even this slight delay made it im
possible for me to land at Karachi in
daylight, so I decided to do the last
300 miles after dark. I had a lot of
bother in landing, but finally managed
to secure a suitable spot. It was for
tunate that I landed there, because I
found that inadvertently I had pump
ed two of my tanks dry, and it was
questionable whether from that point
I would have had enough petrol to
have reached Karachi. I, therefore,
decided to wait until the morning. I
met an Australian there named Fer
guson, who gave me a great deal of
help. It was on the sixth day of his
flight that Commodore Kingsford
Smith got to Allahabad, and to main
tain my lead I had to reach Calcutta
on my sixth day. I managed to do
that. Looking back -I realise that
there was a great deal of fun in my
venture, but at that time it was a great
ordeal and hardship, and it took quite
an amount of moral effort, and the
help of other people to continue the
struggle.
"I found more friends in Calcutta,
and they absolutely forced me into the
sky at midnight, in order that I should
reach Victoria Point on the seventh
day, which would put me 550 miles
ahead of Kingsford Smith's record. In
this case there was no river to follow,
and it was so dark, thafrvif it had
not been for a bush fire, on the top
of a mountain, I might have crashed
into the highest point of the range.
At Victoria Point, where there are
only about two men and a dog, I met
some more friends, who gave me great
encouragement. They insisted that
next morning I must set off for
Palamban, which is 300 miles beyond
Singapore. Sure enough I got to
Palamban, and was maintaining my
300 miles over the record. On the
ninth day I got to Buna, after a flight
of 1150 miles. Owing to afternoon
storms we (my engine and I) had to
go long distances overseas, and I land
ed at Bima, with a great amount of
luck, after dark. ♦
The Last Day.
"T AM not going to say much about the
x last day. I knew that if my en
gine did not let me down I would
break the record, and that would mean
the fulfilment of the ambition of my
life. On that last stage of the jour
ney, engine failure was my dread. If
the engine had failed I would not have
been speaking to you to-night. It is
perfectly horrible to fly over the Timor
Sea. The clock actually seemed to
stand still. But all things come to an
end, and you cannot imagine how
pleased I was to get to Darwin. I
reached there at 5.50 pjn. on Friday,
the Journey from England having
taken exactly 9 days 4 hours and 25
minutes, which works out at 110 hours
10 minutes. Thus I had broken the
record to Australia by about 19 hours.
That success was due to the night fly
ing. I was most bucked about having
beaten—no, I will not say that, I will
say bettered —Commodore Kingsford
Smith's great achievement. There is
no man I have a greater respect for."
"I thank you very much, people of
Australia, for the welcome you have
accorded to me," were his concluding
words.
Arrival in Sydney.
SYDNEY, April 19.
PAYING-OFFICER C.W.A. SCOTT,
x who recently broke Air-Commodore
Kingsford Smith's record from Eng
land to Australia, reached Sidney on
Saturday afternoon, making a perfect
landing at the Mascot aerodrome
shortly before 3 o'clock. >
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