Story of great paper drop
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 TASMANIA’S first ever commercial flight, which involved aerial delivery of the Mercury, took off from Elwick racecourse at 7am nearly 100 years ago, but not everything went to plan.
A paper meant for the Governor got caught in the tailplane, low cloud and a dodgy compass meant the biplane ended up 160km off course and the small aircraft nearly ran out of fuel and oil. It’s a rollicking tale contained in new book Bridging the Strait by Pirrie Shiel.
An audacious attempt to beat the opposition prompted the challenge when pioneering pilot Arthur Long teamed with then publishers of the Mercury, the Davies Brothers, to deliver papers across the state.
The flight took off from Elwick on October 27, 1919, with the aim of delivering copies of the paper between Hobart and Launceston.
Lieutenant Long and the Mercury publicly announced that they would deliver newspapers by air to the state’s North before the Launceston Examiner could deliver newspapers by train.
The flight planned aerial drops at Pontville, Bagdad, Kempton, Oatlands, Ross, Campbell Town, Longford, Westbury and Deloraine.
The plane took off with great fanfare at 7am, with Lt Long at the controls, accompanied by journalist D.K. McKenzie.
After circling the city, the first drop was for the Governor at Government House, but the paper was swept up in the propeller’s slipstream where it lodged in the tail — where it remained until they landed.
The first bundle of papers was dropped at Pontville, followed by others at Jericho and Oatlands. But then, on its way to Ross, the plane veered off course in low clouds.
When the clouds cleared, Lt Long and Mr McKenzie found themselves 160km off course and flying over Maria Island. This detour from the planned route led to a 90-minute delay and meant the Mercury was not delivered before the Examiner, whose publishers had hired a special fleet of delivery cars anyway. The final drop of the Mercury was at 11.40am in Launceston.
The story is one of many from the book which details the adventures of Lt Long.
Mrs Shiel, of Melbourne, first noticed a display featuring the young Tasmanian World War I pilot at Stanley Museum four years ago.
Intrigued by the story, and with the persuasion of her son, Mrs Shiel decided to research the pioneering airman’s life — something she has now spent the past four years doing.
Shiel.
Mrs Shiel has since written a book detailing Lt Long’s life, where she describes his feat of becoming the first man to fly across Bass Strait.
Bridging the Strait was launched at Parliament House this week. Amy Holloway is a journalism student with the University of Tasmania