AIR DRAMA

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 252, 24 October 1934, Page 7

AIR DRAMA

GREAT STORM. DUTCH MACHINE. FORCED DOWN IN N.S.W. Way Lost in Battle With Raging Gale. LANDING WITHOUT DAMAGE. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. Flying full out in the last clash to Melbourne from Charleville the Dutchmen, Messrs. Parmentier and Moll, with their crew and passengers, veered off the course late last night. For more than an hour they circled over mountainous country to the south-east of Albury, unable to find their bearings. Wireless stations, fires and town lights were used in an effort to guide them. They were over Mount l'eathertop in dangerous alpine country before wireless communication was established. The "plane was then directed to return to Albury, where it landed safely oil the racecourse at 1.17 a.m. In their flight the Dutchmen had passed Xarromine, in New South Wales, at 10 p.m., then became lost in a bad storm with a 50-mile-an-hour gale. They regained their course, only to be lost again in the vicinity of Wodonga. Signals from Albury. The landing at Albury was announced after extreme anxiety had been felt for the safety of the machine and its occupants. At Albury car headlights were used to give the flyers signals, and the council engineer, operating the switch at the power-house, flashed electric lights on and off giving a Morse message. Shortly after midnight Melbourne wireless station, at the request of the Air Race Committee, broadcast the following message:—"Calling No. 44, Dutch air liner, Parmentier and Moll. You were last reported near Wodonga. Steer south-west." Tho broadcaster explained that the Dutchmen had been circling round Wodonga for some time and had apparently lost their bearings. Later reports indicated that the flyers had turned back to Albury on the border, which has a beacon. All towns in tho Albury area were directed to display all possible lights. Mr. Parmentier said: "I believe I was only 50 miles from Melbourne when I turned back. I had one and a quarter hours' petrol supply left when I landed." Tho airmen hoped to take off in the early morning, fly to Wangaratta, on the Victorian side of the border, pick up their passengers there and resume to Melbourne.

AT MELBOURNE. DUTCH 'PLANE'S ARRIVAL. (Received 2.30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. Mr. Farmcntier got his liner safely into the air from Albury at 10 a.m., despite heavy ground, and arrived here at 10.54. A FLIGHT FOR FUN. PASSENGER WELL PLEASED. DARWIN, October 23. Fraulein Rasclie, one of Mr. l'armentier's passengers, red-cheeked and plump, talked, freely in halting English throughout a meal in Darwin. She said: "1 claim to be the first woman pilot and sea flyer in Germany after the war. I lovo flying. I cannot afford an aeroplane, but am taking this flight for compensation." Another passenger, Mr. Dominique, said: "I have come all the way from Rio do Janeiro. I am travelling on this flight for fun, and I am having it."

RESULT OF CONTEST. FRONTIERS SWEPT AWAY. LONDOX, October 23. The "Daily Telegraph" says: "England must be proud of the feat of the two Englishmen and their English aeroplane. The Comet must play an important part in the future of aviation. "The Dutchmen's amazing performance brings hopes that in the future Australia will be within a regular four days' commercial flying from London." The "Daily Herald" says: "Before the war Lord Northcliffe offered a prize of £20,000 for a race, from London to Manchester, with two permitted stops. During the war not one British aeroplane was able to fly to Berlin and back. "The Centenary race shows that frontiers are being swept aside and the nations are being linked together. There are great opportunities and great dangers." DUTCH TRIBUTE. TO BRITISH VICTORS. (Received 1 p.in.) AMSTERDAM, October 23. I Dutch newspapers praise the fine, daring venture of the British pilots and their endurance and courage, and say that Mr. Parmentier's 'plane is an excellent second. A message from Allahabad states that D. L. Astes and G. J. Geysendorfer, the Dutchmen who were held lip there by damage to the retractable undercarriage of their Pander Mail machine, say that Scott's flight was magnificent against great odds. "Our accident was due to the locking of the left wheel." They intend, however, to fly on to Melbourne belatedly and to participate in the Centenary celebrations. They express disappointment at having been unable to beat the Douglas machine flown by their fellow-country-men, Messrs. • Parmontier and Moll, I