LITTLE HOPE FOR HAWKER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17167, 22 May 1919, Page 7

LITTLE HOPE FOR HAWKER.

NO : > NEWS ON TUESDAY.

WIDE AREA OF THE SEARCH.

ADMIRALTY'S POSITION.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. «?oed. 6.10 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. The Admiralty at nine o'clock in ■the evening had no news of the mis-1 sing airman, H. G. Hawker. ' The 1 official denial of the report that Haw- 1 kcr had reached within a hundred miles of Ireland aroused keen and sympathetic speculation regarding his af l .al fate. It is feared he can- 1 not have survived. Possibly he de-1 pcended in mid-Atlantic, when his low power wireless installation was) probably insufficient to call any ship. An official communique points out that the chances of finding Hawker arc remote owing to the area which the destroyers must, scour. It adds that even if it had been otherwise desirable to assist an enterprise which was in no sense under Government control, it would have been im-

possible to patrol the Atlantic, owing to the heavy obligations on the navy. The same applies to future, flights. The Government warns other com-

petitors that it. will hp impossible for the navy to patrol the Atlantic course. A gale is raging in the Atlantic, and it is feared that even if he had alighted on the surface of the water : the machine must have been wrecked. Mr. S. Pickles, the Sydney airman who was associated with Hawker in ; the Sopwith business, refuses to abandon hope. He thinks that Haw-' ker may have been picked up by a j vessel not fitted with wireless or is afloat in his own machine's lifeboat. He attributes the mishap to exhaustion of petrol owing to head winds in the last 600 miles. The fact that Hawker started in unfavourable ( weather proves that he was not out I for the prize, but to give Britain the honour of the first crossing. { Dr. T. J. MacKamara, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Admir-, nlty* stated in the House of Commons that, after Hawker bad started! all the available ships .in Ireland i were ordered to sea by wireless. Pre-1 sumably a French station picked up a message in fragmentary form, and misconstrued and retransmitted it stating that Hawker had fallen into the sea. The Castletown station picked up the message and sent it to Queenstown. That was probably the explanation of the false news.

AMERICAN COMPETITOR.

START FROM THE AZORES.

A. and N.Z.

LONDON. May 20.

NC4, the American naval seaplane which successfully accomplished the flight from Newfoundland to the Azores, left the Azores for Lisbon at 12.40 p.m., Greenwich time, to-day. If she succeeds in reaching Lisbon she will proceed on her way to London next day.

LONG BRITISH FLIGHT.

MESOPOTAMIA TO ENGLAND.

A. and N.Z.

LONDON. May 20.

Lieutenant - Colonel Wilson flew from Mosul in Mesopotamia, to England, via Cairo, in seven days.

While the Admiralty has stated the impossibility of co-operating fully with aviators attempting to fly the Atlantic, the Air Ministry arranged to afford assistance, particularly m the way of supplying information. "There are worrying times and many sleepless nights ahead for my staff," said Major Gendle, Chief of the Royal Air Force Meteorological Bureau, in a recent interview, " but the competitors will have our full resources, and a 24-hour forecast for every competitor will be attempted. Mr. Hawker arranged to let me know the moment ho was ready. We will then closely watch our instruments on both sides of the Atlantic, and ■when the moment arrives give the word ' Go!' The airman will probably get an hour's warning. A meteorological section under Lieutenant L. J. Clements has been established -at Si. John's, Newfoundland. Another has been fitted un within the naval wireless station at S. Miguel, Azores, and a third at Listen. A battleship will slso be stationed between the Azores and St. John's, which will be out of Mr. Hawker's track, but will probably cooperate in any official attempt by the Air Ministry or the American authorities, who lave asked for our assistance and are reciprocating. Once Mr. Hawker is away we shajl 'pump' continuous wireless messages after him. To take full advantage of the prevailing winds he' will at first steer slightly south into the main traffic stream, between New York and Queenetown, and then north-east again, with the wind still behind him. I