AVIATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1716, 6 January 1920, Page 6

AVIATION.

HOWELL’S END. SAFETY WITHIN REACH

REALISATION TOO LATE,

LONDON, Dec. 23.

Further news from Corfu emphasises the poignancy of Captain'Haw,oil's _ end- Admiralty charts show that the position of . flic machine, according to Lloyd’s agent’s soundings, is only a quarter of a mile from the shore. ’ ~'■■■ j. « Lift was dark and rough, and Howell doubtless did not know whether he was landing on’ water or land. As the .machine struck thc.sea the terrible truth, was Realised, fa ml the bitter fact that he was within a short distance of safety was revealed by the peasants’ shouts and the glare of their torches. , . ~

Colonel Rickman, manager of Martinsydes, points out that the human voice could not ho heard, above the roar of the propeller, and therefore Howell’s shouting must have been heard after the engine stopped from tho floating machine.. “Captain Howell had two sets of compasses and navigation, instruments,” says Colonel Rickman, “but he , was unable to pick up' points;.for taking observations, and po .wascplnpletely befogged. Ho kept wandering in search ofdand until darkness came, and, his petrol was spent. ■bit was evidently, a brave fight, compact with distress and pnxiety. The airman must have descended several times, and found hiniseif over tho/aea, otherwise he would not have let darkness envelope him in .desperate reliance on his last gallons of petrol”' .... , The Greek Government has undertaken to bold .the inquiry intbi, the accident to .Captain Howell's machine/ , Lloyd's agent at,, Corfu states that the British tug Norda is attempting to .raise the machine, whjch is omlredded in the sand upside down in St. George’s Bay.