CRUSADE IN AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 20254, 15 August 1929, Page 9

CRUSADE IN AFRICA

POPE GIVES SANCTION CARRYING THE CROSS BY PLANE. BERLIN", July 30. A “crusade,” sanctioned by the Pope, to carry the Cross by aeroplane into the heart of South-west Africa, will start next spring, with Colonel Fitzmaurice, the Irish airman, and Captain Koehl. his German comrade on the trans-Atlantic flight, as two of the three crusaders. The crusade is to be led by Father Schulte, a war-time pilot, who is said to be the only priest pilot in the world to-day. Not only will he bo the spiritual leader of "this religious air mission, but he will take turns with the others in piloting the aeroplane. Father ' Schulte, inspired by the death of his war-time "companion, Father Fuhrmann, who lies in a lonely grave near the desert, whore he perished after establishing missionary posts an South-west Africa, has decided that missionaries must adopt modern means of travel. After a year’s plan ning he not only persuaded the Junkers Company and Colonel Fitzmaurice and Captain Koehl to help him, but obtained the official sanction of the Pope The personnel of the expedition wiV number ten. There will be three Jun kors aeroplanes, ten motor cars, _ three motor boats, and an elaborate wireless equipment. Twenty missionary posts ir South-west, Africa between Windhoek and Owakwnnjari will be visited and strengthened. Journeys through the wilds, whicl •rdinarily would take three weeks, ar; ■xpected to be done in three hours by mroplanes. Father Schulte, who was ordained four years after the Avar, says“l, who was a war pilot seeking to bring down men, am now devoting my life to helping men upward,”