Notes

Abstract

WITH the assistance of the Air Ministry and the co-operation of Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., Lord North-cliffe has been able to arrange, on behalf of the Times, for an attempted flight from Cairo to Cape Town, a distance of more than five thousand miles. This journey from one end of the continent of Africa to the other, and traversing country the nature of a large part of which is little known, is of particular interest to the scientific world in view of the fact that Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, secretary of the Zoological Society of London, is taking part in it as passenger and observer. The enterprise will thus not only test the practicability of the air route from Cairo to the Cape, but also doubtless lead to valuable scientific observations being made during the flight. The aeroplane left England on January 24 and arrived in Cairo on February 3. The machine is a Vickers-Yimy commercial aeroplane similar to those used for the flights across the Atlantic and to Australia, and it carries a crew of four in addition to the passenger. Dr. .Chalmers Mitchell is carrying an autograph letter from the King to Lord Buxton, Governor-jGeneral of South Africa, and we hope that he will be able to deliver it in twelve days or so after a successful end to what is a pioneer effort in scientific exploration from the air.