FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA BY AEROPLANE 



237 



Photograph by Aerofilms, Limited 

 TOWER BRIDGE AND THE TOWER OE LONDON EROM AN ELEVATION OE 5,000 EEET 



The fitting, testing, and final adjusting 

 were thoroughly interesting, and great 

 enthusiasm was shown by the employees 

 of Vickers. It was gratifying to observe 

 that these same men and women, who 

 had produced the great machine flown by 

 Sir John Alcock, felt that their efforts 

 were something more than mere labor. 

 They were producing an ideal from their 

 factory to uphold national prestige. 

 Every man and woman did his or her 

 best, and wished us God-speed. 



Thus we were able to place the deepest 

 confidence in the machine ; we feared no 

 frailties in its manufacture, and hundreds 

 of times during the flight we had occa- 

 sion to pay tribute to and praise the ster- 

 ling efforts of those British workers. 



Our petrol capacity would carry us for 

 13 hours at a cruising speed of 80 miles 

 an hour — ample for the longest stages 

 between aerodromes. 



CUTTING DOWN THE BAGGAGE 



The question of "spares" was of vital 

 importance and one into which I had pre- 

 viously gone minutely. As we intended 

 starting almost immediately, I decided 

 that it would be useless to ship "spares" 

 ahead, so that the only course left was 

 to carry them with us. This added con- 

 siderably to the weight of the machine : 

 but the absence of a certain spare part, 

 should we require it. might delay us for 

 weeks, and so put us out of the competi- 

 tion. 



