TRAGEDY FEARED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21329, 23 November 1934, Page 14

TRAGEDY FEARED

No News of Tasman Flyers - TVAIN WATCH KEPT AT AIRPORTSSEA SEARCHED BY AIR RACE PILOTS At 2 o'clock this morning there was no news of the New Zealand aviators, Raymond Galhraith Whitehead and Rex Nicholl, who took off in their Puss Moth aeroplane Faith in New Zealand from Gerringong Beach yesterday at 1.55 a.m. Sydney time (3.55 a.m. New Zealand time) on their flight for New Plymouth. A tragedy is feared. The certificates of. registration and of airworthiness of the machine were cancelled by the authorities when they learned of the flight 10 days ago. A compass and a chronometer were the only instruments for navigation carried. The machine carried petrol for 20 hours' flying. (VUVTT.t) TRESS ASSOCIATION— BT EI.EITMIC TELKGRAPR —COPYRIGHT.) ' (Received November 22, 5.5 p.m.> SYDNEY, November 22. The New Zealand aviators, Whitehead and Nicholl, took off from Gerringbng Beach in their Puss Moth on a flight to New Zealand at •1.55 a.m. (3.55 a.m. New Zealand lime). It will be an unlicensed ■flight. With the assistance of flares and car ' headlights the machine made a perfect take-off. For a moment the machine was silhouetted ngainst the full moon; then it was lost to sight. , The airmen are attempting the ETasman crossing without cither a certificate of registration or a certificate of airworthiness. Both of these certificates were cancelled when the {Department of Aviation heard of their proposed flight a weeek ago. A compass and an ordinary aircraft chronometer were the only instruments the flyers had for navigation. Their destination is New Plymouth and they hoped to break the irecord. Only one seat remained in the. aeroplane, the other two having been removed to make way for a petrol tank. Whitehead and Nicholl had to share a small cockpit. The aeroplane carried 120 gallons of petrol, sufficient for 20 hours' flying. No wireless is aboard because of the limited space. "TOLD NOT TO FLY MACHINE" SECRET TAKE-OFF FROM MASCOT {Received November 22, 8.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, November 22. The acting-superintendent of civil aviation at Mascot aerodrome, Mr T. Johnson, said to-day that he did Dot know that Whitehead and Nicholl had taken-off from Mascot yesterday. He added that they were Hold not to fly the machine with the existing installation, which was Considered unsatisfactory. The airmen's only provisions were taflein tablets to keep them awake, a thermos flask of coffee, a packet of sandwiches and a supply of chewing gum. Their aeroplane is the oldest Puss Moth in Australia, and it also has its original engine. SEARCH BY AIR RACE COMPETITORS AND DANGER OF FLIGHT (PRBSS ASSOCIATION TKLBOEAM.) NEW PLYMOUTH, November 22. At dusk, 16 hours after the start ©f the Tasman flight by Whitehead and Nicholl, there was no sign of the aviators at New Plymouth, though the possibility of the aeroplane being off its cour-.c was recognised. No arrangement had been made by the airmen for a landing; but the aero club and the airport board had taken all reasonable precautions for lighting and the aviators should have no difficulty in making a night landing. Messrs M. C. McGregor. H. C. Walker, J. D. Hewett, C. E. Kay, end F. Stewart, Centenary air race competitors, and a club aeroplane have been scouting all the late afternoon. They realise the difficulty find danger of a flight in such circumstances. SMALL CROWD WAITING LEATHER FlNli, WITH CLOUDS OVER SSI, A (press association telxgbam.) • NEW PLYMOUTH, November 22. A small crowd is waiting on the SB.ood-ligh.ted aerodrome; but at 9.30 there was still no sign of the Barmen, who are more than 17 \ hours out from Sydney. Providing the airmen carried I petrol for 20 hours' flying, as was Intended, they still have 2% hours' | *upply left. The night is fine, with banks of (Clouds over the sea.

, apprehension FELT Expert Airmen Not Hopeful NO RADIO EQUIPMENT CARRIED (PHESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) NEW PLYMOUTH, November 22. Have Whitehead and Nicholl suffered the fate of Hood and Mnncrieff? That is the fear of those who waited patiently at the New Plymouth aerodrome for news of the two men who to-day attempted to fly the, Tasman. Up to midnight no news had been received of the airmen, who left Gcrringong beach, Sydney, about 4 a.m. New Zealand time, for New Plymouth. They were to carry sufficient petrol to last 20 hours. That period expired at midnight. The machine carried no radio, and its movements since it left Sydney have been shrouded in silence. There is a possibility that the airmen might have landed on a remote part of the coast, but it is extremely unlikely that a landing has been made in any part of Taranaki, the whole coast of which is fairly densely settled. Furthermore, the lights of many small towns would serve as a good guide to the New Plymouth airport. The fact that the Moth aeroplane was a reconditioned single-engined machine and four years old is remembered with misgiving. Expert airmen are not hopeful of a successful crossing having been made. Diminishing Hopes Airport officials and a moderate' crowd waited at the aerodrome with floodlights and flares ready for a possible night landing, but their hope of welcoming another pair of conquerors of the Tasman gradually diminished. No arrangements had been made by the airmen for their landing, but nothing was left undone that could have assisted them had they arrived. The day was perfectly fine, wilh a cloudbank visible over the horizon and a few clouds floating inland to-night until darkness fell. CROWD WAITS AT , KONGO?AI WHITEHEAD'S I'ARENTS AND SISTER THERE EXCITEMENT C.U'SEI) I'.Y INCORRECT KKI'OKT U'it*3S association Ti;i.ia:iiU.) WELLINGTON. November 22. In the belief that the airmen did not intend to land at New Plymouth, but to use Mount Egmont as a kindmark, and then come on to Wellington, thus completing the first Sydney-Wellington direct non-stop flight, a large number of people gathered at the Rongotai Aerodrome this evening. Among them were R. G. Whitehead's parents, Mr and Mrs A. P. Whitehead, and his sister. Miss Joyce Whitehead. There was much excitement when a report that a monoplane, presumably from Australia, had been sighted at Onehunga at 5.20. If whs assumed that this report was accurate, and on this basis it was estimated that with a following wind the Faith in New Zealand would arrive at Rongotai about 8 p.m. Some time afterwards, however, it. was stated that the aeroplane seen was a local machine. The weather conditions at Rongotai were then ideal, with bright sunshine and few clouds, and a steady northerly wind. Ready for Night Landing As lime wore on and darkness sei in, the wind strengthened slightly, but the sky remained clear with a good moon. Arrangements for a night landing were then taken in hand, and a flare path was prepared. Everything was ready for the airmen's arrival. No further news came; but the telephone at the aerodrome was kept engaged by a seemingly unending stream of enquiries. The majority of those present remained in the clubhouse, and at 9.15 o'clock one of the watchers reported the noise of an engine. This caused a general exodus to the flying field to be made, but no machine v/as silhouetted against the sky, and the waiting watchers returned to the club room. Apparently the noise was that of a motor-cycle engine. Nothing further was heard, and the gathering began to thin out. The northerly wind later became gusty and increased in strength, and the clouds thickened. Airmen's Petrol Supply Pilots present calculated that the petrol supply of the flyers being 117 gallons, it would hold out until shortly before midnight, assuming the petrol consumption was six gallons an hour, which is the normal rate. Postal officials throughout the Dominion were held at their posts until this evening, and were then released on the understanding that it the aeroplane were seen they were to report to Wellington. The shipping in the Tasman sea consists of the Wanganella, which left. Wellington about 5 p.m. to-day, and the Marama, which left Auckland to-day; both bound for Australia; the Maunganui which sailed from Sydney to-day for Wellington, and the Strathaird, on her way from Brisbane to Auckland. SEARCH FROM HOKITIKA (pa»3S ASSOCIATIOK TELKSKAU.) HOKITIKA, November 22. Mr H. T. Parry warmed up his Robinson Redwing aeroplane at Hokitika and after lunch left the coast with a view to keeping a lookout for the Tasman fliers.

FOURTH ATTEMPT ON one engine FIRST FLIGHT ENDED IN DISASTER CHICHESTER'S NAVIGATION Three previous attempts have 'been made to fly from Australia to Now Zealand in a singlc-cngined aeroplano. The first attempt, made by G. Hood and J. R. McmcriciT in a Ryan monoplane, similar to the one in which Colonel Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic, was made in January, 1928, and ended in disaster. The machine took ofT from Richmond aerodrome, and was never heard of again. In January, 1931, Guy Menzics. (lying the Avro sports machine Southern Cross Junior, which Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith had used a few months before in breaking the England-to-Australia record, made the crossing, but turned over in a swamp in which he landed near Had Had on the West Coast. F. C. Chichester, of Wellington, !lew a Moth fitted with floats from Auckland to Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island and then Australia. He had a certain amount of trouble on the way, and took almost three months to complete the journey. His navigation was exceptionally good, and the flight earned him the Johnston Memorial Trophy, given by the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators fur outstanding feats of navigation in the air. Little Equipment Whitehead and Nicholls are less well equipped in many ways than any of the aviators to make the attempt before them, and their instruments would be considered by most aviators as quite inadequate to make the trip. Their machine, a Puss Moth, is said to be the original machine of the type to be imported into Australia, and if this is true it is four years old. The engine is an inverted Gipsy of 120 horsepower, and wiil give the machine normally loaded a cruising speed of 90 to 100 miles an hour. Witn her heavy load of petrol, the Faith in New Zealand will probably not be able to do more than 80 miles an hour cruising for the first hours of the flight. With petrol for the 20 hours' flying that has been allowed for, the machine will be loaded to about 12001b. The space normally available in the cabin for a pilot and two passengers will be very much restricted by the tanks that have been installed to hold the petrol necessary, and there is very little room left for the pilots. It is stated that when changing over in flight the pilots have to go through a complicated series of contortions. The flight was kept a close secret by the two young men, and it was not until they were on the point of leaving on Tuesday week that the news got abroad. They were held up by unfavourable weather. The Machine The two young men became part owners of the machine which was originally bought for Whitehead by his fattier, who is in business in Wellington. They equipped it with extra tanks, completing the job and painting the name of Faith in New Zealand on the machine the morning they intended to leave. A few steadfast friends aided them at night in the Mascot hangar. Whitehead, who was born in New Zealand, went to England in 1930 and trained with the Royal Air Force at the age of 19, subsequently joining No. 32 (Fighter) Squadron. Since returning to Australia he has been flying in country towns and at Mascot, and flying particularly for Kingsford-Smith, Ltd. He has done 400 flying hours, and is the holder of a "B" license. His relatives worn surprised when they learned of the flight, but wore confident (hat if. would succeed.

Ilex Nieholl, ;i member of the Now South Wales Aero Club, I old bis mother and family of Jii s transTasman iirtnntions, and said recently (bat: tbey have faith in thenability to get there. Whitehead and Nieholl announced recently that they would have .so little seating .spare that tbey would make the (light with their hoofs off. Kven that would give them a jiftle more Jog room. They were to take it in turns to pilot and navigate the Faith in New Zealand. Changing seats in their cramped compartment presented a difficulty until tbey evolved a method which calls for considerable contortions. One slips down from the seat, doubling up bis legs, and the other crawls over the top of him to take the controls. No Radio Equipment They are carrying no radio. It would mean extra weight and intrude on the petrol space, and they do not think they will need it. Whitehead carries as a good-lurk token a St. Christopher's Modal with flu; patron saint, of travellers in bronze relief, which was given him by a priest at C.Joulburn when be crashed into a monastery pardon there early this .year. Nieholl has a half-sovereign, given him by a relative, as his principal mascot. Around the thermos flask holding the coffee is a ribbon with a lucky black cat attached. Tbe fliers are also taking sandwiches and malted milk tablets. No aeroplane ever used in attempting such a flight shows such makeshift ingenuity in its equipment. The oil pipe of the Faith in New Zealand is a piece of hose pipe fed with a tin funnel when oil is required, and stoppered with a plug of wood at other times. The fliers sit on rubber cushions wedged together on top of a board seat no wider than loin. Their backs are against the petrol tank, 'NO NEWS IN SYDNEY FLIGHT CONSIDERED UNWISE (Received November 23, 1.20 a.m.) SYDNEY, November 22. Nicholl's relatives here had no word of the flyers late to-night. They are hoping for the best. Leading aviators at Mascot aerodrome declare that the flight was most ill-advised, particularly with such a machine.