Capt. H. Cukurs - No News Since Forced Back to Foochow
South China Morning Post May 26, 1937
On Pleasure Trip
Captain Herberts Cukurs, the Latvian aviator, who took off from Kai Tak on Monday morning after several months stay in
the Colony, has not yet reached Shanghai.
He is engaged on a leisurely pleasure trip, and in view of the fact that his machine is a comparatively slow one, he
was not expected to arrive at the Lunghua Aerodrome much before six o'clock in the evening.
Late on Monday word was received from Foochow that he had made a brief stop there at 2:45 pm and then had
continued his flight to Shanghai, but word was again received from Foochow to the effect that, owing to bad weather,
he had been forced to turn back and return to that port. He hoped to take off for Shanghai some time yesterday.
It is several months now since Captain Herberts Cukurs damaged his machine in an attempt to take off from the
Kai Tak Aerodrome for Shanghai. Apparently anxious to make an early getaway, he tried to take off at about
7 am on November 22, but he struck a patch where the surface had been newly repaired and damaged the undercarriage.
His machine took some time to repair, and since then he has been waiting for permission to fly to Japan.
Captain Cukurs started out, in his plane, a single-seater of his own construction, fitted with a British Gypsy engine,
and equipped with the latest in flying instruments, from Riga, Latvia, in October last, intending to enjoy what was supposed
to be a "six-months" vacation.
To reach Hongkong he flew 18,000 kilometres, stopping en route at Berlin, Sophia, Budapest, Istanbul, Sleppo, Baghdad,
Basra, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon and Hanoi. His Hongkong accident was not his first difficulty, however, for he had to
make a forced landing in the Persian desert, having run out of oil owing to a leaking tank.
At present a commissioned officer in the First Fighting Squadron of the Latvian Air Force, Captain Cukurs is an experienced
flyer. He has flown over 20,000 kilometres in Africa as a pilot for Air France, the great French commerical air service, and
in addition he has served with the French forces in the 20th Squadron in the Sudan, the 2nd Squadron in Algiers, and the 6th
Squadron in Syria.