HAZARDOUS FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 67, 21 March 1939, Page 12

HAZARDOUS FLIGHT

—, —<> FRYING DOCTOR PATIENT GOT-TO DARWIN(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, March 10. Hours of battling against blinding rainstorms and the uncanny experience of seeing the propeller of his machine encircled in St. Elmo's fire were graphically described by the Flying Doctor in the Northern Territory (Dr. C. Fenton). St. Elmo's fire is an electrical discharge from the atmosphere which mariners have frequently seen playing around the masts of ships at sea. Dr. Fenton encountered it when lie made a 500-mile flight to save the life of a station hand, stricken with acute appendicitis. He left Darwin for Bradshaw's station, near the Western Australian border, in response to an urgent call, and returned with his patient, Rod Quilty, at 12.30 a.m. the next day. An operation was performed within half an hour of his arrival, and it ;s expected that Quilty will make a good recovery. Dr. Fenton said that the flight was one of the most hazardous of his flying career. He had a continual battle with the elements from the time he left Darwin. To make a safe landing at Bradshaw's he was compelled to go down at Timber Creek, approximately fifty miles from his destination, and remove all possible weight, including a nurse from the Darwin Hospital. With a clearing only 300 yards long and about 35 yards wide at Bradshaw's, Dr. Fenton landed and took off with only a few yards to spare and sufficient petrol to get him back to Timber Creek, where he reloaded. He began the long night flight back to Darwin shortly before dark. "I had gone only a few miles," he added, "when I ran into some of the worst of tropical storms. I flew blind and had absolutely no idea of where I was. I followed rivers which I managed to recognise and other watercourses. St. Elmo's fire enveloped my propeller blade. It did no damage, and I was able to continue flying. More by the hand of Providence than anything else, I picked up the railway line after having been completely lost. I ultimately reached Katherine, only to find that I had to land without lights, as I was not expected there. After refuelling I left for Darwin and again ■ had to battle through more storms." i