THE AVIATION PAGEANT.
South Australians are undoubtedly
hugely interested in the hewer form of
locomotion, for aviation always holds
a big. crowd at the Parafield aerodrome,
and any special function there brings
the people in thousands; On Saturday
afternoon last, the Governor of the
State, Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven,
consented to perform the ceremony of
christening one of the huge air liners
which is to do service between Adelaide
S. A. , and Pert, W. A. , a distance of
1400 miles, and members of the Aero
Club, S. A. section, laid themselves out
to make the occasion a memorable one
to spectators. The two air liners, fit-
ted with triple Hercules engines, were
housed in the huge hangar at Parafield,
while from Victoria were big passen-
ger planes of single engine type, as
well as many of the now familiar Moth
aeroplanes. Other visitors were two of
the new Wapiti aeroplanes, introduced
by the Federal authorities in connection
with defence. These planes were keenly
inspected, deriving as much attention
as did the huge air liners. The re-
turn of one of these planes to Mel-
bourne on Sunday gave an average
speed of 168 miles an hour.
At the right time the air liner was
wheeled out, and with a bottle of Aus-
tralian champagne tied to the propellor
of the centre engine, His Excellency
named the plane the City of Adelaide.
The propellor whirred around, and
away into space flew the bottle to
crash and spill its contents in true
christening fashion. The companion
plane, the City of Perth, was also out,
and the pair catered for the demands
of numerous passengers for joy rides.
The usual passenger planes, housed at
Parafield, also did big service.
So huge was the attendance at the
drome that police had to be brought
in to control the traffic. The landing
ground was made sacred to all other
than intending air passengers, and the
public had to conntent themselves with
viewing the scene across a five-barbed
fence.
The greatest spectacle of the day was
the road traffic. Shortly after 2 p. m.
it began, with traffic police controlling,
and at the entrance to Parafield, an
attendant was collecting 6d. for car
parking. The usual car enclosure was
filled within half-an-hour, aud the road
to the drome from off the bitumen
carried cars four abreast, all waiting
their turn to pass through the gates.
Along the bitumen road from the
drome right into Adelaide, was a con-
tinuous string of cars, their owners
optimistic of seeing the sights but
ultimately having to accept a bird's
eye view of the happenings. It is esti
mated that there were 18, 000 people in
the vicinity of the drome.
On Sunday the initial journey of the
inter-state planes was scheduled to
take place, leaving Parafield shortly
after 10 a. m. The plane was the City
of Perth, and she carried apart from
nine passengers, 47 bags of mail matter,
representing 40, 000 letters, weighing 800
lbs. Of this number of letters, no
fewer than 25, 644 were posted in
Adelaide. Each bore the surcharge
stamp of 3½d. for air service, and
amassed a sum of £310 in air fees.
Thirty-seven of the bags were for
Perth, four for Kalgoorlie, three for
Ceduna, and three for Forrest. The
bags are of distinctive type, dark blue,
with a red stripe on each side.
The City of Perth rose gracefully
from the aerodrome, and was soon off
on her 350 miles run to Ceduna. But
it was not to be. The plane had to face
the frightful westerly gale, and the
pilot saw that his chances were poor.
He rose to 3, 000 feet, but the wind
pressure had then increased to about
70 miles an hour, and Port Wakefield
was sighted after 90 minutes of travell-
ing, this only representing 60 miles air
route, or about 30 miles per hour
ground speed. Fearing that the petrol
supply would not hold out, the pilot
wisely turned back for Parafield. It
was the intention to renew the attempt
at 8 a. m. on Monday, but the gale had
not abated, and the attempt was aban-
doned for another day. As giving a
comparison of the two speeds made on
Sunday, the City of Perth, on her re-
turn flight to Parafield; covered the 60
miles, with the wind aiding, in under 30
minutes. Flying conditions were ter-
rible, due to the immense dust storm
that enveloped the State, aad even
when Parafield was due by navigation,
the plane had to descend to about 300
feet off the ground before the sur-
roundings could be recognised and a
safe landing effected.