AIR LINE DISASTER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 70, 4 January 1936, Page 5

AIR LINE DISASTER

FOUR BODIES RECOVERED. SALVAGE BY HAWSERS UNLIKELY. TUG’S CRANE BROKEN TWICE. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) ALEXANDRIA, January 3. Divers recovered the bodies of Mrs Horsman and Miss Eckford, Mr Richardson (steward) and the Italian Signor Tarteglione. It wjll probably bo impossible to raise the wreck by means of hawsers. The tug’s crane has already broken twice. WEATHER PREVENTS SALVAGE. ALEXANDRIA, January 2. It was intended that divers should recover the bodies of the victims of the City of Khartoum disaster and the mail, but the weather rendered salvage of the hull impossible. It is not certain which bodies are aboard. AIR MAIL FOR NEW ZEALAND. ABOUT ONE-THIRD LOST. (Received This Day, 9.15 a.m.) LONDON, January 2. Imperial" Airways estimate that approximately one-third of the mail destined for Australia and New Zealand was lost in the liner City of Khartoum, which carried early bags, but the mail posted within about 18 hours of closing time—which is the bulk of it— is safe, as it was carried by a sister "’plane. THE CITY OF KHARTOUM. The City of Khartoum, the Imperial Airways biplane which crashed in the Mediterranean on New Year’s Eve, was of the Short “Calcutta” type, a three-engined, fifteen-passenger flying boat. It is an unequal span biplane. As in all Short metal hulls or fuselages the duralumin skin plating is the main stress-carrying member. The skin is supported internally by a number of relatively light duralumin frames and by a series of light longitudinal members between the frames, which .serve as local stiffeners and not as longitu-. dinal beams. Space inside the hull is entirely free of obstruction. No watertight packing is used, between the joints of the plating. The power plant consists of three 485 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VI. F geared radial air-cooled engines mounted between the wings, and driving tractor air screws. The main fuel tanks have a total capacity of 490 gallons, and are located in the top-centre section giving gravity feed to the engines.