A DISASTROUS FLIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19740, 13 September 1927, Page 13

A DISASTROUS FLIGHT.

LIEUT. CARR'S ILL-LUCK. CRASH INTO THE DANUBE. • y r ■ - . f,--: MACHINE OVERTURNS IN RIVER. AVIATORS. RESCUED IN BOATS. [FROM our own correspondent. ] LONDON. Aug. 13. Not until news was sent by telegraph that a British aeroplane had crashed into the River Danube did if, become, known that Flight-Lieutenant C. R. Carr, the New Zealand aviator, had made another attempt to fly from the jCranwell Aerodrome. Lincolnshire, to India. With Flying Officer Blric C. Dearth as navigator. Lieutenant (sarr took oft* shortly after noon on Tuesday. . The time of the start had been kept secret. The Air Ministry hoped that the first news of the ftifiht to reach this country would be thtj news of a triumphant success; a safe landing in India and a clear margin .over America's present world's record. On the same evening the aviators made a forced descent into the Danube near Aschach, Upper Austria. " I heard a preat whirring sound which came nearer and nearer, and then a large airplane hit the river with a terrible crash." This was the description by the only eye-witness—a workman— of the descent of the British aeroplane. The machine was badly damaged. The Air Ministry received a message from Lieutenant Carr thait both aviators were shaken but unhurt. The crash represents the first accident in which Mr. Dearth has figured in 10 years of flying. He is a Londoner, is single, and was educated in Yorkshire. He is a nephew of Mr. Harry Dearth, the singer. Even his family did not kno.w that he was to b® navigator on the trip. The machine is a Hawker-Horsley bomber, similar tp the one previously used in the effort to fly to India in June, when Lieutenant Carr made a forced landing at Martlesham, Suffolk. In an earlier attempt in May he came down in the Persian Gulf and his machine was lost. When the plane came down in the river the workman who saw it alarmed his friends, who rushed to the boats on the banks. With these they rescued the aviators, who were drifting rapidly down stream. Lieutenant Oarr's Story of Accident. A Vienna correspondent says that Lientenant Carr, who is extremely cheerful, gave the following account of the accident: "Our machine, which was heavily laden, began to show signs of engine trouble shortly before eight o'clock. Apparently the lubrication had gone wrong, .but, at all events, when we were flying at a height of 1800 ft. over the mountainous country near the Danube our en-, gine seized up completely, and we were obliged to select an immediate landing place.

"The only possible thing to do at that low altitude, and. with a high flying speed, was to chance our luck in the Danube. The machine overturned when we struck the water, and we wera thrown out, but we managed to swarf back to it. I have been extremely lucky and escaped with nothing more than a few bruises, but Dearth is less fortunate. There is, however, no cause for alarm, and if his full recovery is likely to prove a protracted business I shall bring him to one of those world-famous nursing homes you have in Vienna.

"Our machine, 1 am sorry to ss(y, appears to be a total wreck; but the peasants who came to our rescue succeeded in salvaging it and dragging it to the bank of the Danube, and we hope to remove the engine." Mr. Dearth's Double Somersault. Mr. Dearth was unconscious when he was picked up. He was taken to hospital and left his bedroom for the first time three days later. He said: "Carr passed me a note saying that we could not rise above 2000 ft. and we adjusted our parachutes and safety belts. 1 made my last entry in the log book that the water was boiling and the spurts of steam from the engine were blinding. Then the engine stopped dead. We discarded the parachutes because we were then too low to use them, and we struck the Danube at 80 miles an hour. "Carr was flung 60ft. away and I myself 100 ft., turning a double somersault and puncturing a lung, although I had no external injury. I could only swim with my arms, and Carr helped me to reach the 'plane. I could only hang on to it, as I wan; too weak to climb up. Johann Auer brought a boat and helped Carr to lift me out of the water. I thought my back was broken." The correspondent at Ashach states that Lieutenant Carr has a strained shoulder from the impact with the water, but the effect will not be lasting. In the meantime the engine of the 'plane is being packed for transmission to England for examination. The villagers are eagerly securing fragments of the wrecked machine as souvenirs. The task of the gendarmes placed in charge of it has become a sinecure, as on}y the engine is required.