NO SIGN OF MOTH

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 19 October 1928, Page 11

NO SIGN OF MOTH

FLIGHT ACROSS ATLANTIC.

COMMANDER MacDONALD’S BID.

FEARS FOR HIS SAFETY,

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) Received 2.10 p.m. to-day. LONDON, Oct. IS.

There was no news of 'Commander MacDonald at two o'clock this afternoon. The weather was south-west in Ireland. There was a bad morning with south-west gale and poor visibility; but conditions wore greatly improved this afternoon. On the contrary there wUs a bright morning in the south of England, but. the wind changed round to a southwest gale in the afternoon with rain squalls and much mist.(British Official Wireless.) Received 2 p.m. to-dav. R.UG:BY r , Oct. 18.

Commander ‘MacDonald, who is in the emergency list of the Royal Navy, served in the Warspite at Jutland and later was appointed to the submarine services. He wa s returned to the general section and was subsequently engaged in the coastal motor boat service. There is as yet no news of him. The Air Ministry states that conditions for the flight have been excellent. Commander MacDonald would have had a wind of thirty miles an hour behind him all the way ateross the Atlantic. With a -cruising speed of eighty miles an hour the distance of sixteen hundred miles from Newfoundland to Ireland might have been accomplished in a little over nineteen hours.

He had a bright night and excellent visibility. Bad weather on the Irish coast cleared up before ho could have reached the coast.

Commander (MacDonald was advised bv the Meteorological Department to follow a more northerly route than usual. If he followed that route he should have reached the coast of Galway at one o’clock this afternoon and would be expected at the (Stag Lane aerodrome at London, to which he hoped to flv, by about fi o’clock this evening. The absence of news is now causing anxiety. Commander MacDonald was not sighted by any ship. Air experts declare he has enough petrol to keep on flying until to-morrow morning. There is a possibility that he may have landed at some isolated spot in Ireland. He has no wireless and, in the event of his having to land where there is lack of communication, may not be heard >of for some time. [Attenmpting a trans-Atlantic flight, Commander 11. iC. MacDonald, fin English aviator, left, Harbour Grace (jSTewfouncllancl) in a Gipsev Moth ’plane on Tuesday, 'The machine had a fuel capacity for 32 hours’ flying-]