Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 8, 2013 23:51:46 GMT 12
An interesting old article from:
Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 44, 22 February 1939, Page 5
AIR ADVENTURER
CAPTAIN W. G. PUDNEY
FORMER WELLINGTONIAN
NOTABLE FLIGHTS
New Zealanders have made the name of their country famous in many parts of the world as soldiers, sailors, traders, and also in that most modern method of transport, the air service. In the latter sphere few have had the experience, of the large number, of flying hours that have fallen to the lot of Captain W. G. ("Carl") Pudney, who spent most of his youth in Wellington until the war took him overseas and into the world of adventure. Since then he has piloted aeroplanes in many parts of the world for military and for commercial purposes, having to his credit something in the vicinity of ten thousand flying hours' experience.
Captain Pudney left New Zealand in 1914 with the Third Reinforcements.
He was wounded during the fighting on Gallipoli and taken to the hospital on Lemnos Island and eventually invalided to England. On recovering from his wounds he went to Oxford University for six months, later being successful in securing a commission in the wartime Royal Flying Corps. He was sent on active service to the firing lines in France, where he had many adventures in the old-fashioned "crates" in which so many flying men lost their lives in "dog-fighting" above the trenches with the swifter and often more heavily-armed German aeroplanes.
TEN YEARS WITH THE R.A.F.
At the conclusion of the war Captain Pudney. remained for several years with the R.F.C., but its rate of progress was slow and he resigned to start the Pudney, Brettel, and Owen Aviation Company, which unfortunately, only lasted for two years after doing a lot of pioneer work in commercial flying. Captain Pudney then returned to military flying, again joining up with the Royal Air Force, which had grown from the old Wartime R.F.C.
With that force he remained for ten years, passing through the period of youth when the R.A.F. was building up the big and capable organisation it is today. At the end of ten years he was drafted into the Canadian Royal Air Force for instructional purposes, and at this work he was kept for three adventurous years.
Returning to England in 1935, he became one of the test pilots of the R.A.F., at which hazardous occupation he was kept for some time. From this dangerous task he retired a year or two back to become instructor to several of the aero clubs which in Britain, finally becoming pilot and instructor in- charge of the Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Aero Club, conducted by National Flying Services, Ltd., at Reading-Aerodrome, Woodley, Berks, a job he retained for some time.
Among the list of adventurous flights made by Captain Pudney during his lengthy period of service in the air was a survey flight along the West Coast of Africa in 1931 on which he addressed the Royal Aeronautical Society in October, 1932. This flight was financed by Sir James Reynolds, M.P., who had seen the immense possibilities offered in Africa for aeronautical development. He left Hanworth on March 1 1931, in a Gipsy 111, arriving at Tangier a few days later, and from this great African city the survey flight actually started. I
N EVENT OF CAPTURE.
Besides a bunch of English heather presented for luck, the machine carried a letter announcing to all and sundry that a suitable ransom would be paid to any tribe returning the personnel of the expedition safely to civilisation. This was in the event of a forced landing in the Rio de Oro, nominally under the control of Spain.
At Casablanca he refuelled and then flew on to Mogador, where he found the aerodrome was on a belt of sand near the coast. At Agadir Captain Pudney saw for the first time what the desert really looked like. Here he had great difficulty in getting off, as rain the previous night had made the aerodrome very soft.
On the way to Cape Juby the machine met with head winds, and he struggled on with the engine throttled back and the oil pressure fluctuating between 5lb and 40lb. He arrived safely, however, and landed in a wind approaching 50 m.p.h„ the machine being handled by members of the ground staff and the Spanish garrison.
The next stop was Villa Cisneros after an uneventful flight of about five and a half hours.! It was during this flight that Captain Pudney saw a ship on the coast away from any native, village, with a number of coastal tugs plying between ship and shore. From the way the tugs scattered at the approach of the aeroplane the pilot suspected that the ship was gun-running.
Small bands of Arabs were seen, who took pot shots at the machine, but without hitting it. The machine successively visited Port Etienne, Dakar, and Bathurst, at the later place floats being fitted to the machine. These had been sent out by boat and when the case was opened a large black mamba snake was found inside. When the floats had been fitted the machine was launched and christened The Gambia by the Governor, who broke a bottle of champagne on the airscrew.
THE FIRST MISHAP. From Bathurst the machine flew to Fatchito, and from there to Bassee adjoining French Senegal, Flying to McCarthy Island Captain Pudney landed near the Government wharf, and it was here that the first mishap occurred. The machine was moored to a buoy and fitted with navigation lights. As a further precaution launches were moored upstream and downstream from it. In spite of these precautions a large river craft loaded with nuts ran into the Bluebird during the night.
Investigation showed that' a new tail-plane, elevator, and aileron were wanted. Waiting for these would need a delay oi a month, so Captain Pudney made a slipway, hauled the machine ashore, and made temporary repairs with the aid of some copper wire. Before returning to Bathurst he made a survey of the Gambia, reporting that the river was navigable by almost any float seaplane with a wing-span of less than 80 feet.
He successively surveyed the districts surrounding Freetown in Sierra Leone, Balama, on an island in Portuguese Guinea, and Banthe, on Sherbero Island, which is the second port of Sierra Leone. Here the survey flights ended. Returning to England, Captain Pudney joined the Railway Air Services, Ltd., when he was required to pilot four-engined machines between., Glasgow and London, adding to his already wide experience and knowledge of new types of machines. On September. 25, 1J937, Captain Pudney went back to Sierra Leone, where he joined the Elder Colonial Airways Ltd., an associate company of Imperial Airways, with' headquarters at Freetown. He has instituted a regular air service between Freetown and Bathurst, and it is on this route that the ex-Wellingtonian is still engaged.
Captain Pudney is the only son of the late Mr. George Pudney, formerly a well-known Wellington dentist, and his only sister, Mrs. E. Roche, is resident in Wellington. Captain Pudney has been twice married. In 1918 he married Miss Eileen Whitaker, of Swindon Hall near Cheltenham, a gifted vocalist and well known on the concert platform in the war years. She died in 1931, leaving three daughters and two sons. Two years ago Captain Pudney married Miss Joyce Clark, another English lady who is with him in Sierra Leone.
Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 44, 22 February 1939, Page 5
AIR ADVENTURER
CAPTAIN W. G. PUDNEY
FORMER WELLINGTONIAN
NOTABLE FLIGHTS
New Zealanders have made the name of their country famous in many parts of the world as soldiers, sailors, traders, and also in that most modern method of transport, the air service. In the latter sphere few have had the experience, of the large number, of flying hours that have fallen to the lot of Captain W. G. ("Carl") Pudney, who spent most of his youth in Wellington until the war took him overseas and into the world of adventure. Since then he has piloted aeroplanes in many parts of the world for military and for commercial purposes, having to his credit something in the vicinity of ten thousand flying hours' experience.
Captain Pudney left New Zealand in 1914 with the Third Reinforcements.
He was wounded during the fighting on Gallipoli and taken to the hospital on Lemnos Island and eventually invalided to England. On recovering from his wounds he went to Oxford University for six months, later being successful in securing a commission in the wartime Royal Flying Corps. He was sent on active service to the firing lines in France, where he had many adventures in the old-fashioned "crates" in which so many flying men lost their lives in "dog-fighting" above the trenches with the swifter and often more heavily-armed German aeroplanes.
TEN YEARS WITH THE R.A.F.
At the conclusion of the war Captain Pudney. remained for several years with the R.F.C., but its rate of progress was slow and he resigned to start the Pudney, Brettel, and Owen Aviation Company, which unfortunately, only lasted for two years after doing a lot of pioneer work in commercial flying. Captain Pudney then returned to military flying, again joining up with the Royal Air Force, which had grown from the old Wartime R.F.C.
With that force he remained for ten years, passing through the period of youth when the R.A.F. was building up the big and capable organisation it is today. At the end of ten years he was drafted into the Canadian Royal Air Force for instructional purposes, and at this work he was kept for three adventurous years.
Returning to England in 1935, he became one of the test pilots of the R.A.F., at which hazardous occupation he was kept for some time. From this dangerous task he retired a year or two back to become instructor to several of the aero clubs which in Britain, finally becoming pilot and instructor in- charge of the Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Aero Club, conducted by National Flying Services, Ltd., at Reading-Aerodrome, Woodley, Berks, a job he retained for some time.
Among the list of adventurous flights made by Captain Pudney during his lengthy period of service in the air was a survey flight along the West Coast of Africa in 1931 on which he addressed the Royal Aeronautical Society in October, 1932. This flight was financed by Sir James Reynolds, M.P., who had seen the immense possibilities offered in Africa for aeronautical development. He left Hanworth on March 1 1931, in a Gipsy 111, arriving at Tangier a few days later, and from this great African city the survey flight actually started. I
N EVENT OF CAPTURE.
Besides a bunch of English heather presented for luck, the machine carried a letter announcing to all and sundry that a suitable ransom would be paid to any tribe returning the personnel of the expedition safely to civilisation. This was in the event of a forced landing in the Rio de Oro, nominally under the control of Spain.
At Casablanca he refuelled and then flew on to Mogador, where he found the aerodrome was on a belt of sand near the coast. At Agadir Captain Pudney saw for the first time what the desert really looked like. Here he had great difficulty in getting off, as rain the previous night had made the aerodrome very soft.
On the way to Cape Juby the machine met with head winds, and he struggled on with the engine throttled back and the oil pressure fluctuating between 5lb and 40lb. He arrived safely, however, and landed in a wind approaching 50 m.p.h„ the machine being handled by members of the ground staff and the Spanish garrison.
The next stop was Villa Cisneros after an uneventful flight of about five and a half hours.! It was during this flight that Captain Pudney saw a ship on the coast away from any native, village, with a number of coastal tugs plying between ship and shore. From the way the tugs scattered at the approach of the aeroplane the pilot suspected that the ship was gun-running.
Small bands of Arabs were seen, who took pot shots at the machine, but without hitting it. The machine successively visited Port Etienne, Dakar, and Bathurst, at the later place floats being fitted to the machine. These had been sent out by boat and when the case was opened a large black mamba snake was found inside. When the floats had been fitted the machine was launched and christened The Gambia by the Governor, who broke a bottle of champagne on the airscrew.
THE FIRST MISHAP. From Bathurst the machine flew to Fatchito, and from there to Bassee adjoining French Senegal, Flying to McCarthy Island Captain Pudney landed near the Government wharf, and it was here that the first mishap occurred. The machine was moored to a buoy and fitted with navigation lights. As a further precaution launches were moored upstream and downstream from it. In spite of these precautions a large river craft loaded with nuts ran into the Bluebird during the night.
Investigation showed that' a new tail-plane, elevator, and aileron were wanted. Waiting for these would need a delay oi a month, so Captain Pudney made a slipway, hauled the machine ashore, and made temporary repairs with the aid of some copper wire. Before returning to Bathurst he made a survey of the Gambia, reporting that the river was navigable by almost any float seaplane with a wing-span of less than 80 feet.
He successively surveyed the districts surrounding Freetown in Sierra Leone, Balama, on an island in Portuguese Guinea, and Banthe, on Sherbero Island, which is the second port of Sierra Leone. Here the survey flights ended. Returning to England, Captain Pudney joined the Railway Air Services, Ltd., when he was required to pilot four-engined machines between., Glasgow and London, adding to his already wide experience and knowledge of new types of machines. On September. 25, 1J937, Captain Pudney went back to Sierra Leone, where he joined the Elder Colonial Airways Ltd., an associate company of Imperial Airways, with' headquarters at Freetown. He has instituted a regular air service between Freetown and Bathurst, and it is on this route that the ex-Wellingtonian is still engaged.
Captain Pudney is the only son of the late Mr. George Pudney, formerly a well-known Wellington dentist, and his only sister, Mrs. E. Roche, is resident in Wellington. Captain Pudney has been twice married. In 1918 he married Miss Eileen Whitaker, of Swindon Hall near Cheltenham, a gifted vocalist and well known on the concert platform in the war years. She died in 1931, leaving three daughters and two sons. Two years ago Captain Pudney married Miss Joyce Clark, another English lady who is with him in Sierra Leone.
