MISSING AIR-LINER

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 March 1937, Page 7

MISSING AIR-LINER

LOCATED IN QUEENSLAND

TWO PASSENGERS SURVIVE

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.]

BRISBANE, February 28

The missing Stinson air-liner, on the Brisbane-Sydney service, which left Archerfield on February 19, has been discovered near the Queensland border. The discovery was made by a man on horseback, in the Macpherson Range, about fifty miles west of Brisbane.

Two passengers are alive, J. Binstead and J. Proud. The former is unhurt, but the latter has a fractured leg. The remainder are dead. The circumstances whereunder the survivors existed, and the manner of their discovery are not at present available. LATER.

A horseman named O’Reilly, riding in the bush, came upon the Stinson about 4.30 o’clock this afternoon. He immediately rode to the nearest habitation, and gave information, which eventually reached the Brisbane police, who confirm the statement that ; Binstead and Proud are alive, but are apparently in a bad way from exhaustion. Newspaper reporters are en route to the scene, but do not expect to arrive until about 2 a.m. on Monday. Consequently, further details will not be available before dawn.

Aeroplanes are leaving Brisbane and Sydney, early in the morning, to render assistance to the survivors.

BURST INTO FLAMES

(Received March 1, 11.30 a.m.) BRISBANE, March 1.

The air-liner, which had been missing for nine days, was found; a blackened, burnt wreck. The plane crashed on the afternoon of February 19, and burst into .flames.

The two pilots, Boyden and Shepherd, and two passengers, Graham and Fountain, were killed instantly, and were incinerated in the blazing machine.

. Westray escaped injury, and set out for help. His body was found a mile from the plane, at the foot of a. cliff, over which he had evidently fallen.

Bernard O’Reilly, a guest-house proprietor, who found the wrecked plane, is leading a contingent of expert bu'shmen to the spot. Before returning for help he made tea for the survivors, and left with them a. small quantity of food. O’Reilly described how, following his conviction that the planf> had gone no farther than the MacPhersoil Range, he searched on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, through exceptionally rocky country. He had sighted a burnt patch on Lamington Plateau, some miles away, and Was 1 making towards it when he heard a “cooee" across the gorge. Further cries guided him to the spot, where he saw the wreckage of the plane, and the two survivors. One man was-lying on the ground, and the other was sitting up. They had. been scratchinglast messages with a pocket-knife, on pieces of metal. O’Reilly said that the men had no food, but had been able to get water from a. creek a mile away. They had no idea where they were, and considered that their only chance was to wait until they were found. The tattered state of their clothing, and burns, showed that they struggled from the plane, after it crashed. They stated that Westray had insisted; on going for help, and that the others had been incinerated. Before returning for a relief party, O’Reilly followed Westray’s tracks, and found, his body. Thirty members of the relief party, including a doctor, anticipate having to carry Binstead for twelve miles, through scrub, and in doing this, they will have to descend to 3000 feet.

PUPIL’S FORCED LANDING

SYDNEY, February 28

An aviation pupil, Colin Parkinson, 20, was flying solo over the suburb of Haberfield to-day, when his engine failed. He made a forced landing in a backyard. His machine was. smashed to pieces, but Parkinson, crawled from the wreckage with only a. fewcuts and brasions. He coolly, went to a. hospital on the back of a motorcycle.

LLEWELLYN’S FLIGHT.

CAIRO, February 28.

Llewellyn was forced' to land ISO miles north of Khartoum. After repairing the engine, he turned back to Wadi Haifa. o 0 CAIRO, February 28. ‘ Llewellyn has arrived. He will leave for England, to-morrow, and intends to make a fresh attempt on the Cape record, immediately. The cause of the landing was a clogged oil-pipe.

ZEPPELINS TO INDIA ?

MUNICH, February 27.

Captain Ernst Lehmann, the commander of the German airship, Hindenberg, announces that the Zeppelin company of which he is a director is planning to extend its services to India and the Far East when the new building programme is completed. He points out that by 1940 the company will have a fleet of four large modern airships. EMPIRE AIR-MAILS DELHI, February 28. The Legislative Assembly’s financial committee has approved the Empire air-mail scheme, opening on October 1.

DOMINION’S DEFENCE.

REORGANISATION SCHEME. [FEB PBEBB ASSOCIATION.] BLENHEIM. March 1. As the result of a report by WingCommander R. A. Cochrane, who was recently engaged by the New Zealand Government to investigate matters affecting the air defence, proposals will shortly be brought down regarding reorganisation, the training of pilots, and the control of aerodromes. This statement was made by the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones), who visited Blenheim at the week-end.

He added that the first step would be a conference, at Wellington, to-

day, between himself and representatives of Aero Clubs.

The Minister stated that the Government had been greatly impressed with the reports already presented by Wing-Commander Cochrane, and during the extended period of his stay in New Zealand —two years, instead of the fortnight originally arranged with the British Air Ministry--he would conduct a close investigation into the question of defence aerodromes, and would report on the personnel of pilot, staffs and further equipment, involving new aerodromes for the Air Force. Full details of the first part of Wing-Commander Cochrane's report will probably be available for announcement within a fortnight. The .Minister said that, in his opinion, after reading some of the reports already given by Wing-Commander Cochrane, there was need for reorganisation of the air defence in New Zealand, particularly when the present position of overseas affairs was considered. The Government recognised that excellent work had been done by those responsible at present for aviation control, and full recognition of that would be given. One of the features of the proI gramme, he explained, would be the provision of emergency landing grounds throughout New Zealand, at. distances preferably not more than 50 miles apart.