Hop & Skip

Because the sun never sets on the Empire, British sport flyers are forever hopping & skipping about its sprawling domain on record-breaking distance flights. With small, slow, economical planes, the pilots achieve time records by steady plugging, frequent halts for refueling. Chief factors are the nerve and endurance of the flyer. Longest, toughest, favorite course is that from England via India to Australia. So long and so tough is it that Charles William Anderson Scott, after setting a new record last year, declared: "I wouldn't make the attempt again for a million pounds!" But last week Lieut. Scott recovered his record (snatched by Charles A. Butler last November), swept into Port Darwin, Australia in 8 days, 20 hr., 49 min. out of Lympne, England. Again tired Pilot Scott announced that he was through with hopping &; skipping, said he would return "on a comfortable boat."

The most popular planes for British hopping & skipping are the De Haviland Moths, "Puss" and "Gypsy." Harold J. L. ("Bert") Hinkler flew a Puss Moth on his startling South Atlantic hop last autumn. Last month James A. Mollison in a Gypsy hung up a new record (4 days, 17 hr., 19 min.) from England to Capetown, another well-pounded Empire race course. Britain's Amy Johnson and Peggy Salaman fly Moths. A Gypsy cruises at 90 m.p.h., a Puss a little faster. Reasons for Moth popularity: 1) British plane builders concentrate on commercial & military types; 2) with little competition in the sport class, Moths are light on fuel, amazingly reliable. In the U. S. the rights to Moth-making are held by Curtiss-Wright Corp., which, at present, makes no Moths.

--Distance: 11,000 mi. Messrs. Post & Gatty flew around the world, 15.474 mi. in 8 days, 15 hrs. 31 min.

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