LOST FLYING BOAT

Grey River Argus, 17 June 1943, Page 2

LOST FLYING BOAT

15 N.Z. CREW & PASSENGERS

All Believed Killed

P.A. WELLINGTON, June 16. The crew numbering seven ana passengers numbering eight, oi me Catalina flying-boat which was reported as missing on a flight on .June 5, have now been officially }® classl .lied as missing and beheved kTbedThe plane was liymg to New Zea land. The reclassification is based nn thp recovery ot identified wreck age on Dravuni Island, some 50 miles south of Suva, and on the absence of any evidence to suggest the su vival of the crew or passengers lhe next-of-kin have been informed. ed T the S Jlffit of K the -fn a action has been taken to find the sin vivors; sea and air searchers have been most thorough; but. uni ° r ately no trace of the crew or passengers have been found, said Fr S r official inquiry has been helfl in Fiji, attended by all of the aiat orities, including representatives lhe Air Department, and the imciings ’show that the hY«'VN« asN,eVzeafS Ut S lhat‘\he a“ident ran. in no way/ be attributable to any /“ ll °J 0 ” negligence on the par oi l r _ “aT'wrawen below ife ?h U eXS: « tfie ?ata nt oi a the Tying-boat, Squadron Leader McGregor, was lp r a^ r expert of our reconnaissance squ U reliability hasbeen ol ™e iich % nly and the lost flying boc • America recently was flown out from first by a New Zealand '™ s , sl class condition and of modern uesig