ATLANTIC FLIGHTS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 5 September 1927, Page 5

ATLANTIC FLIGHTS

THE MISSING ’PLANE.

BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS. NO HOPE FOR AVIATORS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Se.pt. 2. There is still no news of the St. Raphael monoplane, which has Princess Lowenstein-Wertheimer as a passenger. The Canadian Marine Department states that the whole Canadian coast as far as 300 miles north of Belle Isle has been combed, but all radio stations have received absolutely no word of the St. Raphael. It is considered more likely now that the machine has been compelled to descend in the Atlantic. The weather in the Atlantic has undergone a decided change for the worse in the last 24 hours.

Almost exactly in the middle of the Atlantic, and in the northern area through which the St. Raphael would attempt to fly, there developed to-day a very marked centre of bad weather. This would mean that for an area of at least 600 miles on the probable route, strong winds were blowing, with clouds and rain. In a rough sea the collapsible boat which the St. Raphael carried would be launched with difficulty and could probably be kept afloat only with great skill and effort.

In the western part of the Atlantic and off the coast of Newfoundland the weather has slightly improved owing to the disappearance of fog, so that if the St. Raphael got well across the Atlantic the chances of being picked up are better than if it had come towards the middle. Nearer Newfoundland there are chances, also, of being observed and picked up by fishing boats many of which do not carry wireless, so that several days might pass without news reaching England. Tt is recalled that when the Englishman, Hawker, and his companion were picked up in the Atlantic in IDIP by a steamer without wireless, it. was a week before news of their safety was announced.

GILES OFF TO SEAR OH

NEW YORK,- Sept.. 2

Giles has telegraphed from Detroit to Mrs Leslie Hamilton offering to aid in searching for the St. Raphael. He said he would proceed immediately to Sr. John’s, Newfoundland, and make a flight extending 1000 miles over the Atlantic if she accepted the offer. Giles served with Hamilton during the war.

ROYAL WINDSOR. LANDS,

OTTAWA, Sept. 3. The Royal Windsor hopped off from St. John’s, Quebec, for England at 1.33 this morning. A later message from Portland, Maine, states that the pilot was forced to land owing to the unfavourable weather. POSITION CONSIDERED HOPELESS. LONDON, Sept. 3. The Josiah Macey’s report is the first news of any kind regarding the St. Raphael for 56 hours, and the general opinion is that it renders the position more hopeless. Experts endorse the Canadian belief that the ’plane had not crossed Newfoundland, and consider the chances of the aviators being picked up by a steamer without wireless as very remote, and each hour makes the possibility more remote. . >■

Public opinion is turning against hazardous east to west attempts, which are infinitely more difficult than west to east.

Captain G arrow Jones, late advisory officer to the United States Air Service, points out that it may well have proved that Atlantic winds 2000 feet up are relatively stronger than at the sea- level, and they might he confined to a zone wholly unobserved by ships.

LEVINE TO LMAKE THE ATTEMPT

LONDON, Sept, 2. Levine will definitely start to fly to America on September 3 if the weather is favourable. Lev.ine is ,still determined to venture across the Atlantic. After a conference with Marconi, the latest type of aircraft wireless transmitter has been fitted to his machine, the work occupy ing all night. Alarcon is are sending; aspecial instructions to ships’ wireless men at present- in the Atlantic, and the set will be tried out to-morrow morning with half the load of petrol the machine will carry.

Levine said: “1 am going to Granweil to-night, then I shall be entirely in. the hands of the weather. You ran take it from me we are flying to America.”

GER.MANS ABANDON CONTEMPLATED ATTEMPT.

Meantime intense feeling spread throughout Germany against the use of 'land machines for ocean flights. Tills, is the result of the St. Raphael flight and Junkers have decided to abandon their contemplated attempt. Professor .Junkers says: “Another attempt ,i.n the interests of aeronautical -research alone, appears to me to Ive unjustifiable, but I will leave the decision to the pilots.” In, this connection the Daily Telegraph’s expert says: “So heavy a price -has -already been paid that it i.s reasonable to question the wisdom of attempts over long distances, in winch the ocean provides an added element ot , r i.sk. and does hot afford compensating advantages.”

OTHER ATTEMPTS MADE. FRENCH EFFORT FAILS. MEN’S WEIRD EQUIPMENT. LONDON, Sept. 3. The Atlantic air is as much an unknown element to-day as the Atlantic Ocean wa-s to the first navigators Those -who fly are relying an dead-

reckoning, as did the pioneers whose courage was unsurpassed. Nevertheless. the waiting competitors are undaunted. The Bluebird aeroplane, piloted .by Givod and Corbu, in face of an almost certain tragedy 'having happened to the St. Raphael, took off with 6} tons of petrol. They found it most difficult to gain .height, ran into a fog and returned, circling above the aerodrome for two hours emptying their tanks of petrol, as it was- unable to land with the tremendous load.

It seems that Givod and Oorbu mean to cross somehow, even if they swim mid have' to stop and fish for supper en route. Bach airman has a most elaborate equipment, and when fully dressed' is a weird combination of human being and unsinkable genera! store. In addition to a parachute each wore a rubber lifebelt which could float indefinitely. The interior of this remarkable belt included compartments full of biscuits, coffee, drinking water, champagne, fishing lines and small hooks. To make assurance doubly sure they had a pneumatic lifeboat which could be inflated in four seconds.

The Breguet machine Nungesser and Coli, piloted bv Cos to, is announced to take off on Saturday.

COURTNEY HOPS OFF

BUT LANDS AT CORUNN A. HEAD WINDS PREVENT FLIGHT. LONDON, Sept. 3. Courtney left Plymouth for America at 6.30 this morning in fine weather. The utmost secrecy was observed. Not more than half a dozen people, in addition to those directly concerned saw the Napier W hale machine take off. Courtney was accompanied by his navigator (Downer), a mechanic (Little), and an unnamed Canadian millionaire.

Visibility was bad, but there was iw. breeze, and reports from the Channe, stated that the weather was clearer. Tne first and second attempts to rise failed, and then the machine taxied into Plymouth Sound and took off in the mist, cheered by Courtney’s wife, mechanics, and the crew of an R.A.l*. pinnace, the return of which was the only sign to the watchers on shore that the flight had started. The early departure was most surprising, as "it was announced last night that Courtney intended to await the--7 o’clock weather report. The identity of the mystery passenger is causing speculation. Courtney proposeil to stop at the Azores and St. Johns for re-fuelling, en route to New York. He started from practically the same spot on which the American seaplane NC-i landed alter crossing the Atlantic by stages m 1919.

It is understood that the mystery passenger is E. B. Hosmer, son o! Charles Hosmer, a Canadian millionaire financier. He is associated with his father’s business, and is between 40 and 50 years of age. He has been on a holiday in Eligland, staying at the same hotel as Courtney in Plymouth. He did not allow his identity to lie levealed, even the officials at the seaplane station being unaware ol it. A French steamer reported that an aeroplane, believed to be Courtney’s, was sighted at 7.26 this morning flying westward at a height of 1600 feet. 90 miles north-west of Brest.

Later Courtney wirelessed a passing vessel that he -had given up the flight owing to head winds, and was making for Corunna (Spain). COitU NNA Sept 3 .

Courtney landed here owing to bad weather. He proposes to resume his flight on Monday. Courtney, in an interview, said progress had been good during the first seven hours. Thereafter the wind increased until the speed was reduced from TOO to 60 miles an hour. He decided, therefore, to abandon his intention of going to Azores, as he could not have arrived before nightfall.

Hosmer said: ‘‘You should' have seen the wav the ’plane rooked and quivered in the gale. I don’t mind saying we were anxious for hours. We lost speed and dipped, but fought with the wind shrieking past us. Finally, after frequently checking our position and progress, the skipper shouted through the storm. ‘Well, boys! We can’t make it before dark.’ So we turned and came here.”