COBHAM'S FLIGHT ENDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 July 1926, Page 7

COBHAM'S FLIGHT ENDS.

I ELLIOTT FATALLY SHOT.

[finish to adventure. |. TRAGEDY IN THE DESERT. A RACE TO BASRA. L f "LOSING POTS OF BLOOD." BASRA, July 0. ! Mr. Alan Cubhani j-ays that on inspection of the aeruji'iai .<: this morning he 1 discovered a hole i" tlio side of the cabin, and rc;ili-ed liuit it was m-t th-e '• burst petrol pipe that wounded Elliott. but .i bullet in.'in the gun of some marsh i Arab, lired iit them while living about , fifty f'-rt iibuve ;i -"amp in a dust • Sturm.

j The bullet was evidently lired at the approaching machine. It passed through the side of the cabin, then through the official mail bag and the packet of Test match pictures fur Australia; then through the petrol pipe, and thence through Elliott's arm into his chest. Elliott died later. , Mr. Cobham says: "The dust storm ■ forced us to come down from six thousand feet in order not to lose our way. We then flew at a height of sixty feet along the banks of the Euphrates, but the air was so thick we decided to beach the machine, and waited at a desert , police hut until the storm cleared. "We then took off for Basra, but it was , difficult finding our way over the swamps. '"Suddenly there was a loud explosion in the cabin, I shut off the engine and asked if anything w;is on lire.

■ "Elliott replied: 'No, I am hit; the petrol pipe burst and wounded mc in the arm and body. lam losing pots of Hood.' " "'I gave him a handkerchief to staunch the bleeding and raced to Basra at a ; hundred and ten miles an hour. It seemed an age before we saw the : ihore. "Elliott had sunk out of sight in the cockpit and was motionless. I was overjoyed to find him conscious, but and smothered in blood. "Natives lifted him on an improvised Stretcher and he was taken ashore on a launch. '"He was operated on and a piece of ttetal was taken from his side."—(A. I wd N.Z.-Reuter.