The article below was published in the daily newspaper Auckland Star, New Zealand, Volume XL, Issue 107, page 5, on May 6, 1909.
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(Received 11.13 a.m.)
LONDON, May 5.
Captain J. W. Dunne, of the Royal Engineers, is the inventor of an aeroplane which has been tested with the greatest secrecy amid the hills of Scotland, secure from observation.
The aeroplane made many successful flights, including one of 12 miles.
This was the reason why the Wrights were not approached earlier by the British War Office.
The Wrights had an interview yesterday with Mr Haldane. War Secretary, and also inspected six of their aeroplanes which are being constructed in the Aero Club grounds.
The new type of British Army dirigible balloon made a successful flight from Aldershot yesterday.
The "Standard" announced three months ago that secret experiments with army aeroplanes were proceeding in remote parts of Britain, and that success had followed the experiments. The report was discredited at the time, but the information was evidently sound. The dirigible which has been successfully tried is similar In design to the Nulli Secundus, wrecked in a gale last year. The existing record aeroplane flight is one of nearly 100 miles, accomplished by Wilbur Wright. Several British aeronauts have been working on aeroplanes, including one by Capt. Windham, one of the King's foreign couriers, which was built in France, and driven by wooden propellers.
