Are Airmen Signalling?

Evening Star, Issue 19764, 14 January 1928, Page 5

Are Airmen Signalling?

Smoke Plume in Tararuas

Search Continues in Foggy Weather

ANOTHER FALSE GLUE WESTPORT, January 13. A report having been received that something resembling wreckage was floating in the sea near Cape Fouhvind, and that smoke was vising from it, Mr Curtis, secretary and manager oi Westport Harbor, and Captain Tointon, assistant harbormaster, investigated with a. steam launch, but all they found was a mass of floating kelp and no sign of a fire. Reports that a ’plane had been seen from Denniston, Tauranga flay, and Karamea were also investigated without result. CAPTAIN CERTAIN HE SAW 'PLANE OTHER MASTERS SCEPTICAL Prci> Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, January 13. The master of the steamer Kaiwarra, in a wireless message to the ‘Sun’ newspaper, reiterates the statement that ho saw an aeroplane at 11 o’clock on Tuesday night. The machine was then circling in the vicinity of Porirua. It was in sight for three or four minutes, then disappeared behind a cloud, flying eastward. The Kaiwarra at this time was near the Brothers Light lin Cook Strait. WELLINGTON, January 13. It was officially stated to-day that five coastal ships, including the Inaha, the Breeze, the Kapiti, and the Hawera, were steaming at intervals from Cape Terawhiti and Kapiti Island between 9.30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Tuesday, and more than one of these vessels saw the Kaiwarra, bound from Wellington to Sydney, which reported seeing Mares dropped between Paekakariki and Stephen’s Island. But, although they were all keeping a good look-out. they saw nothing indicating the presence of an aeroplane, and their masters scout the story altogether. In connection with beliefs that the aviators may have been picked up by a vessel if they were forced into the sea, it is stated that not a single ship is known to have been at sea between Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday that has not since arrived in port somewhere or other, or has been in communication by radio. SOUTHWARD DRIFT SHIPMASTER'S SUGGESTION [Peb United Peess Association.] WELLINGTON, January 13. A shipmaster to-day expressed the view that on Tuesday night the weather conditions were such as to take the airmen well to the southward of their proper course for Wellington. He suggested, as an alternative to coming down at sea, a landing somewhere in South Westland, where there are many beaches on which it is possible for a ’plane to descend unobserved. He and others consider it wrong that the airmen were not possessed of the means to send out a radio signal in the event of a mishap with some indication of their approximate position. LDDKIHG FOR LANDING PLAGE WELLINGTON, January 13. Charles Alexander Kiddy, of Petoue, states: “1 am a machinist and reside at Horokiwi. On Tuesday I was on top of the Horokiwi road, looking out for the aeroplane. From where 1 was 1 could see the Straits and the outline of the South Island. My wife and my brother-in-law were also watching. We were also running in and out of the house, listening to a wireless description of the flight from Trentham. We heard on the wireless that the ’plane had been sighted off Stephen’s Island. We then went out to keep our watch, and saw a red glow towards the Straits. It kept fading and brightening up, and appeared to be travelling towards Trentham It would then be about ten or twelve miles away from where I was standing. I could not hear any sound of a motor. The machine appeared to bo due west of my bouse, and looked to me as if it tv as travelling along the range of hills, going backwards and forwards. I had the glow in view from about 9.15 p.m. to 10 p.m. I did not see the outline of the ’plane. I made sure it was going to pass over my place, and I set fire to a patch of gorse to give the aviators an idea of where they were. I am of opinion that if it was the ’plane I saw, it crashed in one of the gullies near the coast line, as I saw it tacking up and down the range. 1 thought they were looking for a place to land.” THE SEARCH NEGATIVE RESULTS MASTERTON, January 13. Two parties left Masterton this morning to search the Tararuas for the airmen, equipped with three days’ provisions, alpine tents, and stoves, and will explore the ridges from the summit to the range until Sunday night. A third party of soldier settlers from the Ngaumu Settlement left to search the Wairongomai and Orongorongo districts, where, it was reported, a ’plane was seen on Tuesday. - WELLINGTON, January 13. There' has been no report from the sug Toia, and Captain Findlay saw no sign of the missing airmen in his search from the air to-day. ■ January 14. The weather has now turned wet and foggy, which must greatly impede the •Sorts of the ; search parties.

The Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Office last night received tne following message from the postmaster at Rongotea:— 11 Mr Stringer, foreman of the State forest service, reports that smoke is issuing from the Tararua Ranges approximately behind Levin, and is apparently a signal, not a bush fire.” A later message has been received from the postmaster at Rongotea as follows:—‘Mr Stringer reports that the fire is apparently at the foothills 42deg magnetic bearing from the mouth of the Rangitikei River. He feels certain it is not a bush fire.”

THE AIR SEARCH CAPTAIN BUCKLEY THINKS ENGINE TESTS WERE EXHAUSTIVE [Special to the ‘ Star.’] BLENHEIM, January 13. Captain Buckley took off at 11.10 to do the Farewell, Karamea, and Blen•heim patrol as arranged, but he was forced to return to his base at 12.20 after being up for a little over an hour. The engine of the plane was not going too well when they left, stated the pilot, but they carried on, thinking it would improve as the flight progressed. But it got worse. Difficulty was experienced in clearing the hills west of Blenheim, as the plane would not climb and attain sufficient height. After they had been on their way some little time they could see that conditions were cloudy beyond, and from 7.000 ft, a little north of Tophouse, they could see a solid sea of clouds extending right across Nelson, which could not be seen, and across Tasman Bay to beyond Farewell. All that could be seen was the tops’ of the West Coast hills, north of Karamea. It was obviously hopeless to go on. Had the engine been functioning well Captain Buckley would have shaped a course from over Tophouse to New Plymouth, as visibility was excellent over the North Island. On the way home the engine was very ‘‘ rough,” and is being gone oyer carefully this afternoon. As for visibility over the land, as far as he went Captain Buckley said it was poor. A smoky haze was still about, and it even obscured a glimpse of Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa, just beyond Tophouse. This haze was apparently due to burnings that are being carried out on the hills, as columns of smoke were seen that marked tho existence of many grass and tussock fires. Orders are now being awaited, and these will decide whether tho machine is to stay in Blenheim until a favorable opportunity for doing tlm Karamea trip presents itself, or will proceed to New Plymouth and Trentham. In the event of another attempt at the Karamea patrol, advice as to the conditions prevailing will bo sought from Nelson.

It was suggested by a reporter yesterday afternoon that the Aotearoa had not been submitted to a sufficiently rigid and prolonged trial prior to the trans-Tasman flight being undertaken. It was considered that if tho motor of the plane was expected to run smoothly and without hitch for fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen hours it should have been submitted to a searching test providing for a flight over land for a period corresponding to the time of the trip to New Zealand. This proposition was referred to Captain Buckley on ins return from his first fruitless search in the Government aeroplane DH9. His reply was that, in his opinion, judging from what he had learned, the Aotearoa’s engine had undergone tests which, coupled with the known reputation for reliability of the Wright Whirlwind engine (established, or, at any rate, enhanced, by Lindbergh’s great flight) were sufficient- to afford reasonable assurance that it would function faithfully throughout the journey. Bench tests of the rigid order were carried out in the factory in America before ever the plane was shipped to Australia, and after assembling in Melbourne severe tests were imposed on the plane. Then followed several hours’ flight to Sydney. He also understood that additional trial flights in Sydney preceded Tuesday morning’s fateful “hop-off.” Those test flights would provide ample opportunity of thoroughly learning tho plane’s capabilities, and further trials would not have contributed to certainty of safety to any appreciable extent. As a matter of fact, a continuous extended trial flight of twelve to eighteen hours, say, would probably necessitate the engine being taken down again and thoroughly overhauled, and after reassembly tests would still have to bo undertaken. Ho thought the three airmen, whilst in Australia, had 'done everything possible to satisfy themselves that the motor could be fairly and justly expected to perform up to reputation. Of course, that great day had not yet dawned when one could say that any aeroplane engine would continue without stop for any given number of hours. Aeroplane motors were still liable to sudden and inexplicable fits of the sulks.