1937: TWO Japanese airmen, bearing their Coronation goodwill message arrived at Croydon having completed their record-breaking flight from Tokyo in 3 days 22 hrs and 18 minutes.
They covered the distance of about 10,000 miles six hours inside the 100 hours they had set themselves for the flight.
The airmen were given a wonderful reception as their machine Kamikaze (Divine Wind), a streamlined all- Japanese monoplane, swooped down to make a perfect landing after circling round the aerodrome three times.
This flight, which has ended so successfully, will mean a great deal to the Japanese nation. Japan is now a force to be reckoned with in the sphere of commercial aviation.
In a radio broadcast to Japan the two airmen gave accounts of their experience. The broadcast took the form of an interrogation by a Japanese official.
The first question to the fliers was as to the general conditions of the flight, and the pilot replied: “The first day we left Tokyo early in the morning, and until we had passed over the mountain ranges the weather was very bad. Afterwards it was excellent, and everything went smoothly. On the second day I began to feel very tired, and I piloted the plane automatically, but I soon began to gather strength again, and yesterday and today I felt quite well. “We spent exactly 50 hours of the 94 hours 18 minutes in flying, and the rest of the time was taken up with our ten hours’ sleep, refuelling, etc.”