TOTAL WRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1931, Page 7

TOTAL WRECK.

FIRST AIR MAIL.

'Plane With Christmas Letters

From Dominions.

FATE OF SOUTHERN SUN.

(United P.A.—'Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

(Received 11 a.m„s

SINGAPORE, November 26,.

Disaster has overtaken the air liner Southern Sun, "which was carrying mails from Australia and New Zealand and was on .the way to England. Tie machine crashed this morning when taking off to continue the flight from Alor Star, Malay Federated States, 400 miles north-west of Singapore. The monoplane is a total wreck.

Colonel H. C. Brinsmead, Controller of Civil Aviation in Australia, who was a passenger, was slightly injured. The mails were saved. , Having taken on a supply of petrol and the bags of mail, apparently the Southern Sun was too heavy. After safely negotiating a ditch the machine crashed in a field 400 yards from the aerodrome. The passengers and crew had a miraculous escape from serious injury. Keeping Faith With Public. The P. and O. steamer Kashgar is carrying the Southern" Sun's mails which are intact, from Singapore to Colombo, from where the Imperial Airways plan to transport them to Karachi by rail, thence to London on December 9 by the regular weekly mail '.plane due on December 15. - , , The Post Office, hoping to keep faith with the public, intends to dispatch the return air mail.to Australia on the 'plane leaving Croydon on December 9, due at Wyndham on December 20.

The Southern Sun ■ left Sydney on November 20 with a total mail of 51,277 letters and -parcels,. weighing 13261b, from Australia and New Zealand. The pilot, GrU, (''Scotty")-Allan,'was accompanied by R. Boulton, co-pilot arid engineer, and L. M; Gallagh'an, wireless operator, in addition -to two passengers, Colonel Brinsmead and Mr; Rubin, a wealthy grazier. The trip to England was scheduled .to take 15 days, landing at Croydon on December 3, and leaving six days, later on a 16-day return trip with the English Christmas air mail for Australia and New Zealand. Over 3000 letters had been sent, by steamer from New Zealand, being collected by an aeroplane which' flew from Inver--cargill to Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland and New Plymouth, and taken across the Taeman by the Marama from Wellington,, and the Ulimaroa from Auckland. <

Last April the first air mail sent between England and Australia' was carried in the Imperial Airways 'plane City of Cairo, which met disaster in a crash at the take-off 'at Koepang, Timor, on the last hop to Darwin. The- mail, consisting of 15,000 letters, and the crew of two, were uninjured. Kingsford Smith brought the mail to Australia in the Southern Cross, The trip from England took 25 days. The second air mail from Britain, starting the same month, arrived at Sydney in 19 days. Mr. L. .M. Callaghan, the wireless operator; is well-known in Auckland, having been chief wireless officer on the Ulimaroa for about two years, during which he called regularly at this port with the ship.