AEROPLANE'S FREAK FLIGHT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 26 September 1918, Page 2

AEROPLANE'S FREAK FLIGHT.

MACHINE GOES ON WITH PILOTS UEAD.

Details of an amazing flight of a British. a.a-yiane for two .hours 'with, its two occupants dead are supplied by a weli-kiiown Hying officer wiio has returned to London iiom Arras.

•"ine incident leiterred to, ' he said, "is quite authentic and 'vas a cojujjioii topic; ot conversation a few days ago. Or course, there is absolutely no leason why a machine should not under average conditions, fly itself so long as its petrol holds out. This is not an exceptional incident of the kind and certainly there have been cas^s where German machines have been captured with their pilots dead. So far as I know, the facts ar e t'hiat this British fighter, '■which, of course, is a two-seater with guns We a-nd aft, took off about halfpast one p.m. The wind conditions were almost negligible, making it very good tlymg v/eather. There- was a great deal of miscellaneous craft widely scattered over 'No Man's Land.'

"The British airaien, at an estimated altitude of 3500 ft, when they would be i\imiing at 80 miles or thereabouts, encountered a German Albatross. They at once attacked. A lot of manoeuvring followed, and. three other machines, two of them Germans, came into action. The British machine hung on to its quarry and eventually got it well under the ness, the German crashing down. Immediately our machine made a sweep south. It had lost 'height in manoeuvring, and was rocking heavily, as if out of control, but it kept steadily on until it was lost to view.

"At a little before 4 o'clock the machine, which was of course easily identified, fell crashing to earth nearly 20 miles to the west of Arras. On examination botih. its occupants were found to bo dead, obviously from bullet wounds, which had struck them from the back and which must at once To&ve proved fatal. Their injuries on coming down certainly did net cause their death. The petrol tank of their machine was found to be empty. "There is no doubt the two men were shot immediately the German Albatross fell. The Bristol machine, which is o the best and most perfectly controlled fighting machine known, of its own volition, swept on a fairly even keel to a distance of. possibly ten miles below the point to where the battle took place. Then, for some reason which never wil] be known, the controls were shifted and a circle was made. In view of the fact that the total distance covered must have ben; much under 160 miles, it appears certain the machine lost speed and height, and gradually, possibly due to some minor, but not vital, injury to the engine.

"For upwards of two hours the two dead men were in the air before the final crash to earth."