Ivan’s phone call with Stanley Bruce went better than he had expected. That everything rode on the Australian prime minister’s opinion was not lost on him. Scotty didn’t have to know Ivan harboured his own lingering doubts over whether Bruce would allow a New Zealand crew of aviators to fly over the Tasman in a land plane. It flew in the face of reason and possibly his public reputation when the Federal Authority had so recently placed the ban on any Australian wishing to do the same. But Bruce had accepted the letter at face value and read it with great interest. In fact, he informed Ivan that he’d placed a call to Point Cook Air Base, his orders being that the officers stationed there must help in any way they could to assist with the assembly of the Ryan monoplane.
Ivan had thanked him
