Land, Sea and Air Search

Evening Star, Issue 19763, 13 January 1928, Page 8

Land, Sea and Air Search

Diomede Joins Dunedin

A New Theory

Did Over-Oiling Cause Disaster

The search for the missing airmen continues on land and tea and in the air. H.M.S. Diomede will join H.M.S. Dun. edin to search the area of ocean whence the last signal was received. A new suggestion by a New Zealand airman is the possibility of overtoiling having caused loss of flying speed, re. suiting in a nose dive to the ocean.

SEA PATROL

[Peb Urrrrra Press Association.] AUCKLAND, January 12. In view of the wide extent of area over which search for the missing airmen is to he made off the coast, the cruiser Jliomede will leave Auckland tomorrow morning to assist the cruiser Dunedin, which sailed shortly before noon to-day. The sloops Veronica and Laburnum will coal and stand by ready to go to sea if their services are required. The cruisers will co-operate in a search covering a wide area. The Dunedin and Diomede both do twenty-four knots, the Dunedin being duo in the search area at midday to-morrow and the Diomede on Saturday morning. WELLINGTON, January 12. The Minister of Defence (Mr E. J. Ilolleston) announced to-night that 101.8. Diomede would leave Auckland at 11 a.m. to-day, and would steam at twenty-four knots per hour to join H.M.S. Dunedin at the place of search. The Dunedin is due to arrive this morning at the point from which signals were last supposed to have been heard. It is explained that the crews of both shins were on leave until to-morrow, and that is why it was impossible to despatch them earlier. TO SEARCH THE TARARUAS [Per Exited Press Association.] MASTERTON, January 12. r At the request of Major Wiiies, Mr F. W. Vosseller. president of the Tararua Tramping Club, has asked the Mastertou Search Party Committee to organise parties of volunteers to search the Tararua Ranges from Holdsworth to Mitre to see if they can find any trace of the missing airmen. It is expected that parties will leave to-morrow 'forenoon, THE PAEKAKARIKI STORY [AIRMEN’S .WIVES CONVINCED. WELLINGTON, January 12. One of the first of the many places from which reports were received stating that the aeroplane had crossed the Tasman, and had been seen was Paekakariki. Messrs Peppered and Harris were quite definite in their statements that they had seen the aeroplane on a downward glide travelling out to sea. The fact that the engine was not heard was attributed to a strong northerly wind blowing off the laud. The postmaster at Paekakariki has stated that he places the utmost reliance on the story told by Messrs Peppered and Harris, and is convinced that they did, in fact, sec an aeroplane and not merely imagine it. So greatly impressed were Mrs Moncrieff and Mrs Hood with the persistence with which Messrs Peppered and Harris held to their statements that they yesterday journeyed to Paekakariki in company with Mr J. R. MacDonald, one of the trustees of the flying fund, and interviewed them. As a result of that interview all three are convinced that .the story is genuine, and that it was the missing aeroplane that was seen. HOOD'S BROTHER CONFIDENT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, January 12. Captain Hood’s brother, who is a pilot in the' Queensland aerial mail service, states that it was impnsible for his brother to have sent the reported wireless messages, ns ho did not know the Morse code. He added that he was confident that his brother and Lieutenant Moncrieff effected a _ landing somewhere inland. It was their intention, if it was dark when they arrived off the coast, not to make for Trentham, hut for one of the beaches. They

DIO SHE NOSE DIVE ?

evidently overshot their destination, and landed somewhere in the Rimutakas. His brother knows the country we 11, and has flown over it, so was familiar with it from the air. RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY' WANGANUI, January 12. Members of the New Zealand Retail Booksellers’ Association, in conference at Wanganui, passed the following resolution to-day;—“The association members desire to express to the wives of file aviators who made the heroic venture across the Tasman Sea their warm and sincere sympathy with them in their present anxiety and distress. The members’ earnest desire is ihat their fears may be speedily relieved.

AIM'S SUGGESTION OVEROILING AND LOSS OF SPEED, [Special to the ‘Star.’] Cilß ISTC.HUECH, January 12. Tho suggestion that disaster overlook the Aotearoa through loss of flying speed, consequent upon over-oiling in the engine has been put forward by Mr M. W. Baker, who served with No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1910 to 1918. A statement that the airmen had had trouble through over-oiling before leaving Sydney has given rise to the opinion which Mr Baker expressed to a ‘ Sun ’ reporter to-day. “Tho containers presumably were over-oiled by the mechanics, but prior to tho start these were drained oil. and the correct amount of oil put in.’ said Mr Baker. “It seems significant, however, that the containers could he over-oiled by experienced ilyers, and it gives rise to the opinion that the oil pumps could not have been working perfectly, with the result that the engine would bo over-oiling, and with the resultant explosions in each cylinder a deposit would bo caused on the piston heads. This in itself seems a very minor trouble, as it takes a very considerable amount of Hying to cause a really bad deposit, and ultimately to lead to loss of flying speed; but there is very little to tell a pilot that there is over-oiling if the pumps are not working correctly, and at the same time the oil pressure gauge is registering correctly. After the first few minutes’ flying tho airmen possibly noticed that their engine was rdnning sweetly, but it is perfectly possible that slight over-oiling, after some 200 or 300 miles of flying, would gradually mean loss of compression, which, if it becomes at all serious, means loss of flying speed, ft is only an assumption, of course, that tins action may have taken place. If the ’plane was flying high, and lost flying speed after 600 or 700 miles, it is possible that the machine would become a dead weight, and develop a nose-dive reaching terrific speed before touching the water.” “If this were so,” added Mr Baker, “ tho machine would sink to some considerable depth, and owing to the weight of water above would never refloat. Colonel Lindbergh flew a distance of 3,600 miles in a Ryan monoplane, with a Wright whirlwind engine similar to that used by the Tasman flyers, and he used the same oil as the Tasman flyers. This naturally demonstrated that if the engine were in perfect order it was capable of sustaining a flight of over 2,000 or 3,000 miles.” “There is no doubt,” he continued, “ that had the airmen been flying an amphibian machine there would have been a greater factor of safety for them in their hazardous venture; hut possibly in the last moments they became very anxious to get away and excited, and oberlooked thorough examination of the machine after tho over-oiling of the containers.”