Evening star., 1924-07-31

IL
soon as the proprietor, who was a
very rich man, heard we were there
he came down himself and asked II
we were getting proper attention,
He said 1t would give him very great
pleasure if we could come up to his
private Office and have tea with him,
and we sure would have liked to If
we only had had time"
At this point l remarked to Smith
that Nelson had told me how, some.
where in Japan, they had had a meal
all sitting In little parties around
stoves with tables on top of them
the reply was I'VE " wsre the guests as
there of one of the big men of the
town, who brought in his wife and
all his relatives to meet us. Only
very honored guests are taken into
around which the hosts and the
guests sit in small groups. have lit
tie ovens in which the food Is cooked.
and it is served Immediately on the
table above. The guests are waited
is a custom that is regarded as a
sincere token of friendship
Retreat of Dick Turpin.
Needless to say, this little airport
of Brough, on the north bank of the
Humber, about fifteen miles from
Hull, is vastly proud of having been
selected as the American airmen's
point of departure on the last stage
Of their world flight The fact that it
was such. by the way. appears to re-
main Brough's principal claim to re
nown, for as far as l am able to as
cover. the sole other outstanding
point of interest in the history of the
tiny place-whose Main street con-
sists of about dozen little shops
is the fact that it is closely associat-
ed with the career of Dick Iurpln,
the highwayman, one of whose FUNK
holes" so tradition relates. was the
miles away.
1t is now exactly four days since
the world flyers. after what Lowell
Smith described as Just little JOY
and eighty miles away glided TO
earth here and got a rousing welcome
from the assembled inhabitants Of
Brough (who only number 1,50o all
todd, the heads and staff of the
Blackburn Aeroplane Company nd a
several Royal Flying Corps pilots.
who had come to fly newly construct
ed Darts to their respective air
dromes.
Acts as Postman.
One of Lieut.. Leigh Wade's first
acts on landing was to deliver to Mrs.
Blackburn, wife of the head OF the
company TO whom the overhaul OF
the world cruisers had been intrust-
ed, a letter that he had brought to
her all the way from Bagdad, the
writer being a brother of hers, who
is stationed there.
The flyers, while here, have had an
uncommonly solicitious host in Robert
Blackburn, head of the big organiZa-
tion that builds planes for all Eng
land. When l reached Brough by
train. few hours after the arrival
of the aviators, he vas showing them
over the airplane sheds, one Of the
sights of which is the old monopiane
Antoinette, the now derelict machine
that was used by Ld:nam, the first
flyer to attempt the Caannel crossing.
The American boys were hugely
amused by Blackburn's description OF
the sensation which this early bird
created at Blackpool in 1909 by actu-
ally flying in a 40 mile hour wind.
Everybody here has been impressed.
not least the British flying officers, by
the apparent tirelessness OF the SIX
world flyers, who have been working
ten hours a day in the airplane sheds
ever since they arrived. On their tirNt
evening here an informal dinner, fol-
lowed by dance, was given IN honor
of the flyers by Mr.. Blackburn at the
little Aero Club maintained by the
the Americans were up at next
morning and at work in the airplane
sheds a few minutes after !.
Doing Something for World.
RESPONDING to the toast of the flyers
healths proposed by Robert Black-
burn at the close of the compliment
tary dinner, Lowell Smith. in modest
declared that he and his companions,
in making what he described as our
little flight" were trying to DO some
thing. not for America alone. but TOT
the whole world.
asked him today what he consid-
cred the main significance OF the
flight.
s~e. Practical Demonstration.
eft will have demonstrated, when
oomnleted," he said. that commercial
aviation. right around the giooe' Is
nerfectIy practicable, and only needs
development. The PACING nlgnt os
wav of the Kurile and Aleutian Is
S.nds nrobably always will be
pretty tough proposition at any tlme
n the wear, but our experience nas
shown that a regular AR MAJ a.o
messenger service from Lonoon 10
tanned with little or no dlihcuity ana
NO more relative danger than a lano
service. ;,oad ;sn,t so
far distant when anybody WI ue
hi. 70 make an eight or ten-thou-
sand-mile journey without changing
pIu n1anes. AS Commercial aviation is de- e
veloped, it will be merely a case ;s
when one stage of the journey a,ns Is
completed, of taking out the h ensins
nv piiot will take charge and the
machine will go on. the passengers
traveline in as much comfort and sur
rnnnded - by as many conveniences as
they are today in railway Pullmans. ms.
I'VE have now Eisnt Eoi III trsnsconti
Mental air mail service" Smith went
on, "and what it's up to us to do now nov
10 To develop our air roads and bulio
nm a system of passenger travel ON