PLUCKY FLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 275, 21 November 1927, Page 7

PLUCKY FLIGHT.

TERRIFYING TIME

Epoch Of The Air In England

To India Attempt.

HcINTOSH AND HINKLER SATE.

(By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.)

(Received 0.30 a.m.)

LONDON, November 20.

News has reached London of the safety of Captain R. H. Mcintosh and Mr. Bert Hinkler, the British pilots, who attempted a non-stop, record-breaking flight from England to India.

A message from Warsaw stated that the airmen were at Lemberg, where they went after an accident to their 'plane, the Princess Xenia.

They were at a hotel, where a representative of the Polish Telegraph Agency got into telephone communication with them at 2 a.m. on Saturday.

They refused to give any information regarding the accident, but said they had sent a telegraphic report to London. '

The authorities offered the airmen every possible assistance and placed a machine at their disposal, but they declined, as both are anxious that their own should be repaired.

There is a suggestion that the flight may be resumed to India, but it is most likely they will stay at. Lemberg to effect repairs and bring the machine home.

Meantime the pair are being lavishly entertained.

A "Sun" message from Lemberg gives the story of the flight, as related by Hinkler. He said that after flying for 24- hours through continuous snowstorms, they landed 10 miles inside the Polish frontier. They had previously estimated that they were near Astrakan, 1000 miles south of Moscow, and bad covered 2800 miles.

After passing Flushing they flew for 12 hours in darkness, through snowstorms. It was the most terrifying time the airmen had ever experienced. They repeatedly lost control when at a height of 5000 ft, and did not regain control until they were a few hundred feet above the ground.

.Navigation was impracticable, as all landmarks were blotted out. They had to trust to the compass, and eventually were trapped among mountains. They .blindly flew up and down among valleys, and had to bank sharply every now aad again' to avoid the hillsides.

Dawn showed a fogbank 8000 ft up. The cold was intense and the machine waß covered with ice. Their frozen limbs militated against keeping control.

They knew by dead reckoning that they must be somewhere over Russia. They then decided to head, for India. Three hours later, finding progress impossible, they turned back and sought a landing place. They landed safely on a Tough surface in a ploughed field near Podhajce, in Galicia, South Poland, watched by the populace of the village.

The machine was escorted on a farm, wagon to the police station some miles distant. They were detained for. pome hdurs until an interpreter arrived, and the* police were - with their credentials.

They spent the next day in futile efforts to get a message through to England. With the help of the local residents the following day they took off again and flew in the direction of Warsaw. When nearing Lemberg the weather became impossible and they were forced down and landed in a ploughed field.

The machine fell forward on its nose. The wingtip crumpled, and the propeller blade snapped off. The airmen were 'shot out of their seats, but were aot injured.

The flight would have been successful, said Mr. Hinkler, if the weather had been better. They maintained a speed of 110 miles an hour for 24 hours.

Another message says Hinkler and Mcintosh left the 'plane in the care, of the military authorities, to be sent r to Lemberg, from which place, assisted by the British Consul, Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Whitehec<d> they have entrained for London. *

The airmen are still in Lemberg, to which place they travelled in a train, accompanied by two peasants, who'were injured when the 'plane landed, one sustaining a broken leg and the other severe bruises. They reported the accident to the British Consul and to the ?61ish authorities.