No Trace of Late Mr Hamish Armstrong

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 10, 13 January 1936, Page 12

No Trace of Late Mr Hamish Armstrong

SEARCH IN THE RUAHINES Tho privately organised search party for Mr Hamish Armstrong, tho Alatio farmer whose ’plane crashed while flying between Danncvirko and Hastings on August 4 last, has abandoned its search for his body. The search was begun on October 17, when it was hoped that tho spring rains would have melted tho snow and given the searchers an opportunity of finding the body, but continued bad visibility and O’ eerable conditions on the slopes of the Ruahines delayed progress for some weeks. Actually the party was able to go out on 11 days only. The party was composed of Messrs S. and H. Barlow and A. Peers, who went up into the hills from the Wakarara end as soon as the weather broke in October. They believed that the well-nigh continual showers of spring rain would melt the snow which covered the foothills and higher ranges, and that given good visibility they would be likely to find the body of Mr Armstrong.

As it happened they met with lowhanging mists and frequent rains, which for day 3 on end obscured thei: vision. Time and again tho party set out, only to be rebuffed with heavy rain and thick mist, and sometimes for nearly a fortnight they were prevented from making any material progress. Even the arrival of summer days did not seem to make much difference to their chances, and in tho end they perforce decided that the hope of finding the body -of the missing airman was a forlorn one.

It seems unlikely now that the body will ever be recovered.