MRS MILLER DISAPPEARS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 1 December 1930, Page 5

MRS MILLER DISAPPEARS

HOPE FOR RESCUE FADING

AERIAL SEARCH FRUITLESS

PREMONITION OF DEATH

(United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph Copyright.} HAVANA. (Chiba), Nov. 20. Mrs Keith Miller, the well-known airwoman, is lost and hope for her safety has practically vanished. She started) from Havana yesterday morning' for Miami, Florida, and 1 has not been seen since. An extensive search lias failed to repeal any trace of her. A premonition of death she thrust aside through fear of being thought a

'coward haunted 'Mrs Miller. Searching parties in six ’planes here and at Miami have flown for hours over the Gulf and Florida Keys (without finding a trace. Friends of Mrs Miller have accused themselves of not having prevented her, forcibly if necessary, frcinu making the flight, against which there were odds in a poorly-con-ditioned ’plane and in'extremely rough weather. '‘‘‘l do) mot know why it is, but something tolls me I am going down,” said Mrs Miller before the take-off. “I have had the feeling since I crossed from Florida, and I cannot shake it off. ’ ’

She called l the ’plane “an umairj worthy crate,’’ explaining that it- was .conditionally licensed ship she had from a junk pile and) reconditioned. “I arm trying to put myself over as a. commercial pilot,” she said, ‘‘‘and if I make a flight- like that in an old ’plane without the usual equipment it ought ro be easy to get some company interested in using me as a regular pilot. ’ ’ Many in contact with her here remarked at her pre-occupation and commented on her hot being able to eat or sleep properly. She commented that what worried her most was the ladle of blind flying instruments and a turn and bank indicator. “Frankly, I cannot afford one,” .she said, referring to the latter instrument. Aviation officials returning from the search .declared that not even a stout seaplane could have stayed afloat. Mrs Miller had a collapsible rubber boat, but she had expressed: a. dkmbt as to her ability to inflate it. Since coming to the United States from Australia three years ago Mrs Miller had ajeted as a. demonstrator of small ’plane® and amphibians, and was instrumental in popularising aviation among (woman. A message from Pittsburgh states that Captain Lancaster, who accompanied Mrs Miller on a flight three years ago. from- London to Australia, said he thought she had been forced down at sea. Ho expressed the fear that she must be afloat somewhere between Cuba and the Florida coast in the collapsible rubber boat she carried. Her backers expressed the hope that she might- have landed somewhere in Florida. Mr John Liggett, one of the backers ot Mrs Miller, left. ,by passenger ’plane to fly to Miami to assist in the search.

A message: from Havana states that there is a possibility that Mrs Miller did not attempt to reach Miami. A reporter of a lOf cal newspaper said he saw the aviatrix on Friday night. She told him that she would land' at Miami it the weather was unfavourable, .but otherwise would continue as far as

4 possible. She had fuel for a nine hours ’ J d'gh't and' the distance across' the gulf not far. It is felt by some that */ie reached the United States at a point where communication is difficult. Two aeroplanes which left Havana this afternooni in an attempt to locate Mrs Miller returned, without- results. Aviation experts ’believe she is lost for she took off on Friday morning against bad weather conditions and against the advice of other fliers. If is said she set her ic.our.se without allowing for the strong east wind, which might have forced her into the Gulf of .Mexico.