EARLIER MESSAGES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 13 January 1938, Page 7

EARLIER MESSAGES

FIRST REPORTS ALARMING CLIPPER SEEN FLYING IN QUANTITY OF SMOKE SEARCHING FACILITIES AT PAGO PAGO “VERY POOR” SAN FRANCISCO. 12th January. First reports were alarming. A cablegram from Pago Pago quoted a native as seeing the Clipper flying off the western end of Tutuila in a quantity of smoke. A search was started immediately the s.s. Avocet, stationed at the United States naval station, sending out a plane to search the route which it is believed the flying-boat followed.

Honolulu’s wireless station, KGMB, offered facilities to broadcast messages to the missing plane, similar to those in thp Earhart search.

Fears were not allayed when Washington naval officials described the searching facilities in the vicinity of Pago Pago as “very poor.” The naval

base is equipped with a single utility seaplane, a minesweeper, and an old coal-burning tender, which participated in the Earhart search. Honolulu is the nearest fully-equip-ped station, but it would be impossible to conduct an air search from Honolulu because of the distance. AIRWAYS OFFICIALS VIEWS The machine carried no passengers, but had a crew of seven, including Captain Edwin C. Musick, commander on tho first two survey flights to New Zealand and the first schedule flight last week from New Zealand to Honolulu. Pan-American officials, however, held to the view that the absence of news did not necessarily indicate disaster. They expressed the opinion that it was possible that Captain Musick, after reporting the leak, landed in the water on the leeward of some South Pacific island. Experts explained tha mountain ranges might then be interfering with the reception from the plane’s radio, and hoped that the night would bring

more favourable radio conditions. j No significance was attached to ; a native seeing smoke. Captain ; Musick was probably dumping petrol ! preparatory to coming down, and the native mistook the spraying liquid j for smoke. It was recalled that a simi- j lar dumping before a landing at Pearl Harbour caused many to believe that another Pan-American plane was on fire.

HIGHLY EXPERIENCED CREW

MR GATTY’S STATEMENT AUCKLAND, 12th January. A firm belief that the Samoan Clipper had alighted somewhere in the Western Samoa or Tongan groups was expressed by Mr Harold Gatty, special representative of Pan-American Airways in New Zealand and Australia, to-night, before the report of the finding of the machine was received. On his first northward flight last year Captain E. C.' Musick had i a point of acquainting himself with emergency safety places in convenient bays in the vicinity, and had detailed charts of the area. Confidence in the organisation for safety at all costs that is a paramount principle of airways operation, and also in the ability of the crew and in the ship herself, caused Mr Gatty not to view with alarm the unexpected interruption in the flight

He said that contributing factors to this attitude were the fact that the ship was seaworthy, the crew highly experienced, the weather fine, and the organisation specially designed in details to meet precisely such an emergency as the present one. An unexpected mechanical defect could occur on any air line. While disappointed that the machine had not maintained the schedule, he said that delays were not unexpected in the aviation business, especially when they arose from precautions taken in the interests of safety. The present was such an instance. Judging by the lew reports received, the machine would not have flown more than about 250 miles from Pago Pago when she turned back. It was most likely that as soon as the oil leak was discovered the commander dumped the petrol in the wing tanks, conserving the supply in extra tanks in the hull, sent out his position by radio, and put the ship down. The Pan-American meteorologist in Auckland, Mr E. B. Buxton, prepared to-day a forecast for an area of 600 miles in the vicinity of Pago Pago, and it showed no disturbances either in the vicinity or approaching it. It could thus be assumed that the clipper, wherever she was, came down on comparatively smooth water. RADIO WOUND IN Before the machine alighted on the surface the trailing antenna, for the radio would have been wound in, leaving only a small fixed aerial on the machine for transmitting and receiving messages. The islands in the Western Samoan and Tongan groups, or many of them, are extremely mountainous, and it was quite probable that if the machine alighted in a bay under the lee of one of these islands her radio would not be heard at any great distance. No alarm was occasioned at the PanAmerican radio station. No doubt the operators at Pago Pago were working at high pressure and ad no time to work Auckland, which was, after all, not vital. Even if the machine had

been in severe danger nothing could be done about it in Auckland and the staff here has been in the position of mere lookers-on as far as giving any assistance is concerned. Mr Gatty said that although the machine had not been in communication with Auckland direct at any time during the day she would have maintained an unbroken connection by radio with Pago Pago while in flight. As soon as she took off in the morning she would have reported regularly to Pago Pago which should have full details of her direction, course and speed at the moment of i turning back. “It would be quite possible lor the ship to lie in a bay for many horn's j without being reported,” Mr Gatty j added. “Most of those islands in West- j ern Samoa are sparsely populated, j have no real roads and no means of communicating with more civilised parts. Though it is unlikely, it would 1 be possible for the ship to be in a bay 1 on Tutuila on the opposite side from j Pugo Pago and not to be reported for quite a time. Mountains could easily j interfere with her radio and there are ■ so few people about that the ship might ! taxi a long way before she was seen.”

WAITING FOR NEWS AT AUCKLAND

PAN-AMERICAN OFFICIALS AUCKLAND, 13th January Despite the absence of news from the flying-boat, Pan-American officials before the report of the finding of the fly-

ing-boat was received were reasonably confident that the clipper was safe in ! either the Tongan Group or in Western ; Samoa.

The absence of wireless messages from the flying-boat was explained by the fact that the radio equipment does not operate satisfactorily over long distances unless the machine is in flight. The clipper took off from Pago Pago, American Samoa, at 4.32 o’clock this morning, New Zealand time, on the final stage of her flight, and she was expected to arive at Auckland late this afternoon.

During the morning word was received at Auckland that the flying-boat had turned back for Pago Pago because an oil leak had developed, but after that there were several hours of disturbing silence. Officials of Pan-Ame-rican-Airways in Auckland were standing by throughout the day, but they received little in the way of wireless advice. The last radio message from the clipper was received aproximately five hours after her departure, wffien it was announced that she was being headed back for Pago Pago, and during the afternoon the San Francisco office of the company announced that the flying-boat was missing.

CAPTAIN OF CENTAURUS

OFFER TO HELP IN SEARCH SYDNEY, 12th January. The “Sun” featuring the overdue Samoan Clipper, published an interview with Captain J. W .Burgess, of the Centaurus. He expressed his willingness to help in a search for the Clipper, adding “I think the Clipper is quite all rightt .Captain Musick is one of the best pilots in the American service."

CAPTAIN MUSICK

A FINE RECORD ' j Captain Musick has over a million 5 miles flying to his credit since 1913. 3 His first regular company was the 1 Aeromarine Flying Service, running flying-boats—big even then—between : Nassau in the British Bahamas, to Ha- : vana, Cuba, with a staff of six pilots. ’ In 1927, Mr Juan Trippe, who bei lieved in his visions much more than r anyone else, organised a small air line t© fly the 93 miles between Havana and 1 Key West, Florida. The company and 1 the route were not on a scale that seemed to fit the resounding title—- * Pan-American Airways—but the plan 3 behind the 93-mile beginning developed 1 rapidly to fit the name. ’ Juan Trippe took Musick with him. l as a man who knew the weather through the West Indies to Central and South America, from Caribbean cruise j nights to howling smashing hurricanes, 2 and who knew flying-boats also. In 2 the West Indies and Central and South American services, Captain „ Musick flew 1100 round trips without _ accident, but he did upset one shipload of politicians when he sat them down in the perfect sunshine of a Central American port, and said that there he 5 —and they—stayed till the weather 2 ahead had passed. They raised poli--2 tical Cain, but later they agreed with [ him. On one of the early exploratory . flights over the North Pacific route, 2 Musick turned his clipper ship back , from almost half-way to Honolulu. It j was wiser, he said. Someone fitted the words of the jazz tune to him: “And j Musick Goes Round and Round,” but , it fell flat. f He was in charge of several of the ; clipper ships while the North Pacific route was being extended, section by section, over the full distance of 9000 , miles to the East, and he captained the Martin clipper which made the first , through flight to Manila toward the ’ end of 1935. High mountains encompass the har- , bour villages on the narrow strip of t level land along the shore. Pago Pago the most important village of the is- [ land, is at the extreme toe of the stocking. The climate is tropical, but equable. Strong south-westerly winds blow from May till November; during . the other months of the year the winds ; j are variable, frequently from the west j and north-west. Severe gales and oe- | casional hurricanes occur about once | jin five years. The rainfall is heavy, i j the average fall being more than 190 I inches.

STRONGLY BUILT

DETAILS OF CLIPPER ! Sikorsky machines of the type of the Samoan clipper have four engines, but can fly on three and even keep aloft to-' some time on two. The flying-boats are capable of riding quite heavy seas and of travelling on the surface even with two engines out of commission. The Samoan clipper is not so high above the water as the Centaurus. The j hull height of the Imperial Airways j machine is 24ft., whereas that of the j Pan-Ameircan Airways one is 18ft. The i Centaurus is also longer, the hull be-

ing 881 t, compared with 69ft for thi clipper.

The clipper has plate girder construction for the keel and frame with duralumin sheeting on the surface. All seams are covered with fabric and marine glue to prevent entry by water, and there are nine watertight compartments in the hull to give greater buoyancy. Metal is extensively used in construction for added strength and durability. A metal skin covers the wing j back to the main spar and all surfaces lof the tail unit are of metal covered with fabric. In case of emergency petrol can be dumped to lighten the load, automatically turning the tanks into water- ! tight compartments. Captain J. W. Burgess pointed out the suitability of flying-boats for ocean crossings when he was in New Zealand. He said the design of such craft had advanced so rapidly in the last five years that flying-boats were now economic units of commercial transport, and they had the great advantage over land machines of being almost always over a surface upon which they could alight and ride safely . if necessity arose.

PAGO PAGO The air base at Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila, in American Samoa, 1450 air miles from New Zealand, is very differently situated from that at Kingman Reef. The reef is no more than awash at low water and sunken at high tide, but the runway and anchorage at Pago Pago are surrounded by precipitous hillsides, for the harbour lies in the crater of an ancient volcano —as do Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours. Pago Pago is 1500 air miles from Kingman Reef, and the harbour is one of the safest in the South Seas. Its entrance is to the southward and it nearly cuts the island in two. About a mile from the harbour it turns sharply to the westward, giving the harbour the appearance of the foot of a stocking, with the United States naval station situated on the instep, facing north and sheltered from seaward. The sea cannot be seen from ships at anchor inside the harbour, the ships lying quietly in the smooth water during the heaviest gales.