Capt. Taylor

New Adventure for Capt. Taylor Australia-South American Air Route Survey

CAPTAIN P. G. TAYLOR, pioneer air man, with his crew of three and a correspondent, left Grafton, NSW, on March 14, on the first leg of a survey flight between Australia and South America.

He is using a special RAAF Catalina loaned by the Commonwealth Govern ment, which is sponsoring the survey.

The Catalina has special equipment in cluding jet-assisted take-off, which will help get the flying-boat off the water twice as fast as normally. This assist ance will probably be needed at Easter Island where take-off will have to be made from the open sea. JATO consists of four rockets, each weighing about 200 pounds.

Captain Taylor’s crew members are: Captain Harry Purvis, who flew with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, was a Wing Commander during the war, and now manages a flying service taking newspapers to the country. Mr. A. Allison, a radio officer with Trans-Oceanic Air ways, Mr. A. L’Huillier, flight engineer with the same company.

Captain Taylor said Mr. Allison and Mr. L’Huillier had been members of his TOA crew on regular flights to Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

Also on the plane will be Mr. J. Per cival, a business executive who will act as official correspondent for the trip.

The route will be from Grafton (on the northern NSW coast) to Noumea, Suva, Satapuala Bay (Western Samoa), Aitutaki (Cook Islands), Papeete, Man gareva (French Oceania), Pitcairn Island, Easter Island and Valparaiso. The flight is of 8,500 miles and Captain Taylor ex pects to make it in about three weeks.

A token philatelic mail of about 100 lb. will be carried.

Captain Taylor has called the Catalina Frigate Bird II; Frigate Bird I was the Cat in which he made his last big sur vey flight—from Central America to Australia via Clipperton Island in 1944.

Did Not Reach Lau The Chilean Air Force recently made a flight to Easter Island in a flying-boat with amphibious landing gear. It was this plane which last month was reported by Australian newspapers to have gone on to the Lau Islands, Fiji Group.

It appears, however, that the Chileans never got further than Easter, nor had they intended to. The aircraft failed to get off, and was damaged, and reports in dicate that the crew returned to Chile by sea.

The reported arrival of the flying-boat in the Lau Group was evidently a fig ment of some newspaperman’s imagina tion.

There is a small airstrip on Easter Island, but no sheltered flying-boat base.

It appears that the landing and take-off from Easter will be the most hazardous part of Captain Taylor’s adventure.

A reception was given at the British Council Centre in Suva at the end of February by the Fiji representative, Mr.

H. T. Lawrence. The function marked the first anniversary of the opening of the centre. The Governor of Fiji was among the guests.

The Rev. Clifford Williams, of the Methodist Mission is at present in Eastern Australia on leave after 11 years m Western Samoa.