FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA BY AEROPLANE 



328 



■4mmP 



"we drank success to the last stage of the flight in the vintage of 



timor coconut milk" 



The aerodrome on the island of Timor, the last landing place before reaching Australia, had 

 been completed by the Dutch officials the day before the arrival of the Vimy (see p. 335). 



to give the maximum amount of run, and 

 then opened the throttle full out. 



We gathered way slowly, and I watched 

 the fence around the course come rapidly 

 nearer and nearer, and still we were not 

 off the ground. It was a tense and 

 anxious moment. When fifty yards from 

 the rails, I pulled my control-lever hack ; 

 the trusty Vimy rose to tlu j occasion and 

 just cleared the rails. There were still 

 houses and trees to be negotiated, and I 

 set the Vimy climbing at an alarmingly 

 steep angle. 



Another breathless moment passed, and 

 the wheels of the under-carriage just 

 brushed the tree-tops. It was a great 

 triumph for the Vimy. She achieved the 

 seemingly impossible, and to this day I 

 regard our escape from disaster during 

 this perilous take-off as providential and 

 one of the finest maneuvers of the whole 

 voyage. 



HEADING FOR JAVA 



After a wide sweep above Singapore, 

 we headed for the open sea and Java. 



