TRAGEDY OF FIRE AND AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15551, 7 March 1914, Page 5 (Supplement)

TRAGEDY OF FIRE AND AIR.

AVIATOR'S ADVENTURES. The aviator Daucourt-, who was wrecked in Asia Minor on his way to Cairo, has given a graphic description of his experiences. On December. 18 he sat' down and looked with apprehension' at the : frowning face of the Taurus, and, As the weather was growing daily worse decided to cross at. once by himself, sending, his passenger Rous by road.' 'This is his account of what followed: — "I rose easily and quickly in the cold grey morning, but at 7500 ft I met the clouds, and it was impossible to go higher! as I could see nothing and should inevitably have come to smash against some invisible crag. So I took to coasting a few yards below this wet wall, like a fly running along the central rafter of a ceiling I had to find a valley, as I was not high enough to fly over the whole rocky range. Soon I saw an opening in the cliffs opposite —a sort of gulf, the rest of which was hidden by the fog. After making sure that I was in a valley that the German railway was going to use I plunged in, but scarcely had I doen so when a terriffic air current carried me forward. Later I learned this was the wind from the great salt lake, a plain of thousands of square miles, which , blew up against the Taurus, and, findingonly one opening, tore down it in fun". I was flying at full speed of about 66 miles an hour, but the wind took me along at double that rate (afterwards he verified this fantastic speed). I soon lost all control of the levers, and was whirled along like a scrap of paper, sometimes on one wing and sometimes on another, seeing the landscape changing beneath me with prodigious rapidity. So I went madly on, always stuck to the roof of cloud, which seemed slowly to come nearer to the ground. The valley was trending upwards, and I was being caught • in a, blind air-alley—impos- , sible to land, and impossible to rise. J

"Then came the forced landing after turning his machine head to the wind, and being caught by a side current from the Mediterranean. Choosing the woodiest place he could he came down at 60 mile 3 an hour against a tree, whose trunk was sheared off, but which brought up the monoplane 50 yards further. When paucourt came to his senses he was still in his seat and uninjured, though his machine was a good deal damaged. His first idea was to seek help, and he soon found a party of German railway men, who gave him a kind reception and undertook to repair his Feeling rather up and down-hearted, he needed sleep more than anything else, but seeing a gendarme he showed him a letter from Enver iiey, and took him up to where the wrecked machine lay. Here he explained to him as best he could the danger of lighting a fire, or even a match, anywhere near, and drawing a wide circle round the debris ordered this to be taboo, which the pandour promised to guard. " With a quiet conscience Daucourt then went to sleep till he was awakened by a terrified peasant. "Once more I climbed up, most anxious for the fate of my poor monoplane. When I reached the plateau it was burning itself out, as were the legs of a poor devil watching it. But it was not my gendarme. Fearing the cold he had gone away delegating his duty to a shepherd. But he hid forgotten to explain the magic circle, or the danger >1 fire. The unfortunate wretch had therefore ensconed himself in the fuselage, and built up a fire between the wings very carefully before composing himself to rest, only to wake surrounded by flames. At his agonised cries for help his brother, also a shepherd, had come to call me. " I confess I was overwhelmed with despair, and could not even think of the unfortunate victim. I only saw one thing dream vanished, afid all my efforts rendered useless by the stupidity of a gendarme 1 And I was foolish en'ougn to draw my revolver to put an end to mv adventures then and there before the neap of ruins that had been my monoplane. The railway men who had run up after me prevented me, and led me away, and I was so tired that I went again to sleep. 1 afterwards heard that the gendarmerie lieutenant and his men had been thrown into prison, but that was no consolation, for I also heard that the shepherd had aied. And I shall never forget the flames in the night oil the forest-clad sides of the Taurus."