BURIED IN THE SNOW.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 4 July 1928, Page 4

BURIED IN THE SNOW.

ADVENTURE OF AVIATORS. EIGHT THOUSAND' FEET L I*. An air piilut, Captain Lawrence Hope, has bad an auvcnUire wmoh lie win not, eusi'iy lurget. He leit Lyons io, J taiy one au lurnoon a, lew weeks age in euim.pu.ny with. a Frenchman who dues ilit)l mind what lie is mas Jong as no ins racing sometuing. This* time the two were m a H. 11. Motn light aeroplane. Riiey wonueieJ. which way to go, and, as lire wuatlicr reports were excellent, they decided to go over tlio -OH'pS.

ns dusk ert-me on tne airmen mounteil until tiicy were LU.dJd lent above tlie sea, lt'l'ic.i with that glorious sense oi udvcnluie winch comes to a man, who can handle a, ’piano and iias the vast sea o« tlie sky to said through. r J licy laughed i\& the Moth raced' along, anu peered out at the tory world, so tar below, oil wlnon mgnt was descending. Dud'uenly Uaptarit .Hope and his companion saw that they had 'sailed into a new wou'iid,. an unkind- would. Below them, the ground was entirely hidden. cu\ or'e-d by a great bank of cloud,, so that mountains’, lakes and villages were arl one. The air pilot was at a. loss. Jf he went on in tlun lug he would be sure to crash into a mountain peak. It was too dark to turn -batik and find a good landing. There was. nothing but to make a forced ia-nding. Gupiaiu Hope, peering down in the rapidK-giowing g'loum, spied through a. rent in the cu'.taiu <vf tog what. seem-, ad like a lint. Down Ik; went toward it, cruising along the side of Mount Layan.ua, and making a perilous approach Know n- as a stall landing. ALFINE FASOIiSm. TO RESCUE.. The machine dropped, pancake fashion, on to the mountain, and then flopped into the dee-p snow. There the Moth stuck, her wings level with the drift. the nuclei can iage completed buried and there the men were, 8000 feet up on a. remote mountain side, and tne night 'before them.

“Here goes!’’ said the Frenchman, and clambered out. He immediately sank up to his chin in the snow. Gaptain Elope watched the ‘disappearing head, and cleverly hauled his companion up. “That's not much good.” no said'. “Wc arc better in than out.’’ Just then the snowbound men saw a whole string of lanterns climbing up the mountain side. The light' came dancing nearer und the two men in the Moth could handle believe that anyone uould be carrying the lights'. Y*d it was obvious that they could hardly dance up the mountain on their own feet.

The prisoners’ held their breath and waited. And what.should they see conic in sight but a group oi" the Alpine .Ffascisti. who had' watched the ’plane conic down and thought they had better do something about it. 'These hardy moil it laincers had life-lines with, them. They ban,led the'two. men out of the snowbank. lint, snow-shoes oil them and go) them down the sb>p/' (<> a place where they could i-.-i.ss the night in kinder conditions than the -Moth, could have offArclod tbcin.

Then, with the morning, ea.me the •Ijnest rescue of a. 'plane that has been heard of for seme time. The two airmen wild the mountaineers went back up the ninunia;: i side witlli three sledges and some miles o: rope. Alter some d.iHiew/itv they got, the ’.plane on the sleigh and moved her down till she was on a. platform, about 500 yards long. There she stuck. ( aptaiu Hope felt hopeless. Jfe I bouvhi. hard 1 and long, and then had a bright idea. Tic persuaded the lumber jacks to make the aeroplane seme shoes, enormous skis with boxes fitted on (hem.

The 'plane with the wheels, was ivcdccd into, flic boxes, and then the men tried io persuade the Al.otli to walk a bit in her grand new shoes. She wa.« very obstinate, but after terrific labour the liK’ii giit her to move- along, 'ind r.wav slio went toward the precipice. Jrst in the nink i*f time the Alotb took Hie air. Then suddenly she- ro-sc an<l kinked off her new shoes. lire skis and boxes, iru.tt'led down. the abyss, and tho bravo Alotb soared oil 'into- tlie upper n-ir.