END OF FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 134, 4 December 1944, Page 6

END OF FLIGHT

SUNDERLANDS ARRIVE

ONE PUT DOWN AT SEA

P.A. .-, AUCKLAND, December 3. A jminor mishap delayed the receptfonof the four R.N.Z.A.F. Sunderland fiying-boats at Auckland yesterday. Tfhree of the aircraft arrived considerably behind schedule, and the foucth> which alighted at sea, was subsequently towed to Whangarei Heads.

The^ flying-boat will be fitted with a new/propeller, and will be flown to Auckland later. ■

; Th;e Sunderlands were on the final Stage of a 16,000-mile delivery flight from England, via the Atlantic and Pacific. Nearly 100 men' of the Services returned as passengers in the flying-boats. Crowds lined the waterfront to witness the arrival. The mishap to the fourth Sunderland occurred when a Lodestar, from Whenuapai, carrying official photpgrapers, approached the .flight as it neared the New Zealand coast. The tail of the photographic machine was struck by one of the Sunderland's propellers, which was damaged. The captain of the flight immediately: issued instructions to the captain of the flying-boat, which was .carrying Service passengers, to forceland on the water. The machine, which was piloted by Flight Lieutenant Shepherd, Dunedin, was brought down successfully off the coast between Whangarei Heads and Mangajvai. in spite of *a severely damaged . tail unit, the photographic machine was flown, back to its base and landed safely.

A member of the crew of one of the flying-boats said that the pilot performed a very skilled job in recovering the, Lodestar from the dive which

followed the incident and in bringing it safely back. ' The Sunderland was later taken un tow by a fishing launch and a private launch and brought to sheltered waters inside Whangarei Heads, where it i was moored during last night: . • '.' A Court of Inquiry will be held to investigate ;the. mishap. DESTINED FOR PACIFIC. The crews were met by the heads of the Services .and representative citizens, including the Chief of' the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal L. M. Isitt, and the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones). Welcoming on behalf of the Government the crews of the first two ■ boats to arrive, Mr. Jones said' that the aircraft they had.brought to New Zealand would be welcome and useful additions to the Air Force, and the Dominion was indebted to Great Britain for making them available for" service in this part of the world. He knew they would do a good job in the Pacific. .

Flight Lieutenant Patience said they were rather- overwhelmed with their reception. They had sensed something was in: the wind, but. it made rather more of their trip than it really was. He, felt he was speaking for all of the crews when he said they looked on their voyage as a routine matter, but still they realised that to the people at home in New Zealand it meant a lot; He was sorry Wing Commander Baird was not speaking to them. It was because his thought and concern made him stand by the aircraft which had force-landed that he was not on the platform. He had been responsible for the whole organisation of the trip, and the success of it was largely the result of that.

When the third machine under the command of Wing Commander Baird j arrived shortly after 7 p.m., passengers were first taken off, and then Mr. j Jones and Air Vice-Marshal Isitt went out to greet Wing Commander Baird, who was given an informal reception about 8 o'clock. FLEW 16,000 MILES. "We have flown 16,000 miles from the United Kingdom to West Africa, Brazil, and Texas, across the United States and the Pacific," said the wing commander. "The reason for the long time taken on the trip was that we had to do all1 our maintenance. The Americans at bases everywhere we touched were impressed with our Sunderlands, and I think they have a better record than the corresponding American type."

Remarking that the flight had had good weather, Wing Commander Baird said there had been only one other mishap affecting one of the engines, and that occurred after leaving San Diego. The trouble was rectified before the- flight left the Hawaii Islands. The longest hop was one of 2400 miles from the United Kingdom to Bathurst, West Africa.

The crews of the delivery flight, he said, were the original foundation members of the New Zealand Catalina squadron, which was re-equipped with Sunderlands, which were the mainstay of the Coastal Command, whose work was not exciting but vital and well known. He was sure they would do a job equally as good in the Pacific. "We all feel very proud to fly out these splendid examples of British workmanship," he concluded.