PEASANTS MOB AIRMEN

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19198, 3 January 1928, Page 11

PEASANTS MOB AIRMEN

COLONEL ANTOINAT'S EXPERIENCES.

t AUSTB*LUS AND *.l. CABI.Z ASSOCIATION.)

(Deceived January 2nd. 5.5 p.m.)

BEIRUT, December 31. Colonel Antoinat gives thrilling details of liis experiences. '■Directly we left Rome," he said

"we were blown far out of our course over the Mediterranean. The cold was so terrible that the pilot fainted twice and another replaced him. for hours we battled with the storm and fog. m-in" to reach Athens. The petrol tank "were almost dry when we wen: ■Me to land in Adaha, where the Turks arrested us on a charge of havin" flown over Smyrna. Wo started in tho teeth of a raging storm and were towed to and fro as the aeroplane lurched about. Ono of the left stays snaped and tho machine tilted sidewards and plunged towards the waves. When a few feet above the water the machine straightened and we were just able to land on the shore near Messina. A large mob ot armed peasants cursed and beat us, refusing us food and water. Ultimately the French Consul came to vlie. rescue, not a moment too soon, as the peasants were just starting to burn the aeroplane. The crew restarted the engine on Christmas morning, and despite the exhaustion from which they were suffering we reached Alesandretta, but it was little short of a miracle that the aeroplane survived the buffeting of the storms." [Colonel Antoinat and some companions wero arrested for allegedly Hying over Turkish territory without permission. Ultimately the Turkish authorities gave them permission to continue their flight.]

AIR LINER FORCED DOWN. PETROL SUPPLY EXHAUSTED. (austbaliak and n.z. cable association.) (Received January Ist, 5.5 p.m. CAIRO, December 31. An Imperial Airways liner, travelling from Bagdad to Cairo, has been missing since Thursday, when a wireless niesage from the machine stated that the petrol supply was exhausted, but a safe landing had been made. A search party found it sixty miles from Rutba. The passengers, including a woman, are all well, and wero taken to Bagdad by a relieving machine.

WIRELESS JAMMED

(AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 2nd, 8.45 p.m.) BAGDAD, January 1. Shortly after the departure of seven Air Force machines to seek the missing air liner, Captain Warner, flying an Imperial Airways machine, who had searched all night _ wirelessed that ho had found tho liner surrounded by Arabs, who were offering the passengers water and proffering assistance Captain "Warner supplied the air liner with petrol, lack of which had caused descent, enabling it to reach Butbali. Captain Warner conveyed the passengers and mails to Bagdad.

It was disclosed that the air liner's wireless was working well hut the messages were not heard because they were jammed by the multiplicity of messages from neighbouring stations and machines engaged in search.

COLONEL LINDBERGH'S

FLIGHT. (AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. AND SUN CABLE.) BELIZE (British Honduras). December 30. Colonel Lindbergh arrived to-day from Guatemala City. NEW YORK, January 1. Colonel Lindbergh has arrived at San Salvador from Belize.

AIRCRAFT ON SUBMARINES. (ABSTBAiUX AND X.Z. CABLB ASSOCIATIOH.) (Keceived January 2nd, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, December 31. The first news of British submarines carrying aircraft appears in a routine announcement in the "London Gazette," referring to allowances to qualified fleet air arm pilots and naval observer officers appointed to such submarines. The "Daily Express" points out that the United States Navy has been experimenting with aeroplanes with folding wings which can be packed in cylinders in submarines.