PLANE AFIRE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 6 August 1928, Page 7

PLANE AFIRE

THRILLING EXPERIENCE.

MACHINE’S DIVE TO SEA. CAPTAIN COURTNEY'S STORY. (lln'tecl Press Association—By Electric Telcgxapii Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) LONDON, Aug. 3. “The plane caught fire abruptly and nearly ended the. flight tragically,said Captain F. T. Courtney, the airman, who crashed in the Atlantic 500 miles from the Azores, and who is now aboard the Minnewa-sika-, bound for New York, where he is due on Monday. His copyright story has' been wirelessed from the boat.

“After leaving ITorta, Azores Islands, on Wednesday,”Tie says. “I decided to fly a southerly course in order to- put the head-winds abeam as I finished the trip, expecting to arrive at Newfoundland in 17 hours. After I had been flying three hours the moon rose from behind the clouds. The blanket-covered crew were comfortably sto.wed. “Hugh Gi-Imour, our wireless operator, ascertained from steamers that the direction of idle wind differed from that forecast. While recalculating our course- I lost sight of the moon and ran into a blinding rainstorm. The plane hit many ferocious humps, though the engines were running admirably, ccirbnnatioii was) perfect and! instruments were accurate.

“The rain stopped after two hours, but we were still flying blind at eighteen hundred feet. We climbed to inspect the upper side of the clouds at 3500 feet. This was too high to encounter adverse wind's. We descended below the clouds a thousand feet, but it was too dark to see the water. T'he clouds broke at 2.15 in the morning and we glimpsed the’ moon. I climbed to 150!) ■J' FLAMES DISCOVERED. “I was discussing the engines with 1 my mechanic, .Fred Pierce, when I saw j the most horrible sight of my flying career. The cheery exhaust flame- behind -suddenly changed to a dull, red glow. ,I was stunned to see the rear engine envloped in flames' which stretched out like those- of a giant blow-lamp, rearwards, over EfLwood Hosmer’s seat and beyond the rudder. The tail of the machine in the darkness must have resembled a grotesque red comet. “The situation seemed a nightmare. It did not ocour to me that we could reach the water before the tail burned ; in myi subsaqulenb actions L merely blindly followed a piloting instinct", which- possibly saved us. Pierce rushed into the engine-room and turned off the petrol. Three seconds later it would have been too late. “I cut off all switches and thiow the machine into a headlong dive through the blackness with a vague idea of burning up the escaped petrol if Pierce should have failed to turn the cocks. T'he dive shook Gilmour from; bis seat. “Drawing out of the dive, with a burning seaplane overloaded by a ton, I- saw the glow reflected on the crests oif the waves. 1 -managed to put the machine on one crest, ran down the hill of water and up to the next, just preventing the seaplane .from shooting into the air off the crest. After several jolts the machine cable to rest without damage. PETROL, SUPPLY TURNED Of "F

“During the descent Pierce had amazingly succeeded in turning off the corks and applying the fire extinguisher inside the engine-room, greatly diminishing the flameis, the remainder of which, instead of streaming out behind the plane, burned -directly over an opening in the hull, which contained 6QO gallons of petrol. The fire extinguisher was exhausted. The flames burned fiercely for a, quarter of an hour while we four stood awaiting the final explosion which never- came.

“As the flames subsided we erected boat- hooks to support emergency wireless aerials. Gilmour sent SOS calls but, as he received no reply, we decided to conserve the battery by awaiting daybreak. “When the engine-room cooled we found a petrol pipe band bad broken, causing petrol to be forced under pressure against the engine near the exhaust-. As the breakage developed it must have caused an accumulation of petrol, which would give a. good sendoff to the flames when the fumes reached the exhaust. The metal engine mounting was burned through like paper. If the machine had not been metal it would not have survived five minutes. '

“Gilmoivr resumed the SOS calls at daybreak. The steamer Cedric answered and I cheeked the position, but by the time an accurate estimate had been sent we had drafted 30 miles. The batteries gradually ran out us the liner searched. Wo know the position was serious so we put the last power into directional' signals' to the iVlinnewaska. We tried ismok© signals, but as we nearly re-ignited the machine we waited. dejected and seasick owing to the continual (railing. “When Gilmour announced casually: ‘Ship sighted,’ I called him. a liar. Theli I joked and saw the finest'sight T have ever seen, the Minnow ask a steaming toward® us. .

ESSENTIA,Tift TO SAFE OCEAN FLYING. “I have failed again to fly across the Atlantic but am not disheartened as the failure proved my point better than success would have. I have always insisted that a seaworthy machine and an efficient wireless are essential to successful ocean flights. These- principles saved our lives in about a bad a situation a aviators, ever met.” The “Daily Mail” says Captain Courtney’s rescue rails attention to tho expenses entailed, by shipping companies whose vessels respond to SOS calls. Several liner® had' to quit their courses to rush to Ills assistance, hut the efforts of all but one were necessarily in vain. The aggregate cost of the delays is possibly between £7OOO and .010,000. Ai shipping official points out that while, vessels are always ready to answer distress messages from ships,-At-lantic fliers are in a different .category because they start out knowing they will be, I ionised' if they are successful, but they do not consider the expense if ln.nvf.Kimr erring wrnrtlQ\