CLIPPER CAPTAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 14 January 1938, Page 5

CLIPPER CAPTAIN

FLYER OF RARE SKILL AND EXPERIENCE AUCKLAND, 13th January. A man whose very name inspired confidence, Captain Edwin C. Musick is Pan-American Airways’ greatest loss. His death has robbed the world of a flyer of rare experience, skill and judgment, and aviation, both international and American, has by his passing suffered a loss it could ill afford. The tragedy of Captain Musick’s death has brought a deep sense of personal bereavement to Auckland. Here he had made many friends, and in spite of his brief acquaintance with the city the public was already inclined to regard him with pride as an adopted son. Retiring and almost shy in public, Captain Musick was a man of forceful personality. Behind his quiet manner was apparent a strength of character that might be expected of so great an aviator, and for all his deliberate selfeffacement and his innate modestry he was a natural leader of men. Quietly spoken, slightly deaf as the result of thousands of hours in close proximity to roaring motors, Captain Musick displayed implicit faith in the ships and crews that his company provided. A stickler for discipline and strict observance of company regulations, he set his men a splendid example and it is a tribute to his personality that he was highly esteemed not only by Pan-American Airways but also by his own junior officers. Courteou and infinitely patient, he was a man of magnetic type. His unhurried American drawl, his shrewd, kindly eyes typical of a man who flies far and fast, and his firm hand-clasp endeared him to those in Auckland who met him on his two visits to the city. Hundreds will mourn his death as a personal loss. Captain Musick, who was about 43 years of age, was a married man. Mrs Musick lives at their home in San Francisco. There are no children. OTHER MEMBERS OF CREW Second officer of the Samoan Clipper on her last voyage, Captain Cecil Sellers had only recently been transferred from the Orient route. His home was in Manila, from where he flew the Samoan Clipper to Honolulu prior to her New Zealand journey last month. Captain Sellers, a married man with a young family, had not the long association of Captain Muisck with Pan-American Airways. Though a skilled and expereniced flier, he was a comparative newcomer to the American company, having served previously i with China National Airways. He | was at one stage pilot to the Chinese ruler Marshal Chiang Kai shek.

Though two other members of the crew of the clipper, Mr T. D. Findley and J. W. Stickrod. had previously visited Auckland, little is known of them by their associates in the city. It was stated that Mi' Stickrod was single and that he had formerly been with United Airlines.

Both Mr P. S. Bruak, second officer and Mr F. J. Maclear., navigator, were strangers to the members of the PanAmerican staff in Auckland.

Two of the company’s officers at Mechanics’ Bay, Mr A. L. Lewis, air-

port manager, and Mr M. M. Thomson, engineer, knew the remaining member of the crew, Mr J. A. Brooks, flight mechanic. He was a married man whose wife and two sons are in Honolulu. He had been with Pan-American Airways for a number of years. He was stationed in the Canal Zone for two years and subsequently was transferred to the North Pacific section. While the Sikorsky was surveying the South Pacific route Mr Brooks acted as airport manager at Pago Pago.

“It is no use making guesses as to what happened on board the clipper,” said Mr Harold Gatty, special representative of Pan-American Airways in New Zealand. “Any one of a number of things might have caused a fire and explosion in mid-air, but it would be idle to speculate as to the exact origin. “To myself and to countless others,” Mr Gatty continued, “the loss of the Clipper is a tragedy. There were men on board who had pioneered air transport over long sti*etches of ocean, and to me it seems that tfre whole science of aviation can ill afford their passing.

“Some consolation can be drawn from the fact that there were no passengers on boai'd the Clipper. The loss of passengers would have been even more ti'agic. As it is, those who manned the flying-boat knew that their craft was as near mechanical perfection as possible and that the organisation behind their flight was thorough to the last word.

“What happened to the flying-boat can happen to any piece of mechanism, no matter how perfectly it has been constructed,” Mr Gatty added. “An expert driver may be driving a mechanically perfect car, but a fault can develop which may mean destruction. We have not yet developed machinery which can give warning that it is likely to go wrong.”

The loss of the Clipper, Mr Gatty said, could not be taken in any way as indicating that the air route between Honolulu and Auckland was commercially impracticable. Tragic as it was it was merely one of those experiences which befel most companies engaged in transport, whether by road, rail, sea or air. Against the loss of the Clipper could be set the fact that the company’s flying-boats had flown over 1,000,000 miles in the North Pacific route in two years without a single mishap.