AIRMEN STILL MISSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 11

AIRMEN STILL MISSING.

THE FLIGHT TO INDIA. PLANE NOT ONCE SIGHTED. RUSSIANS KEEP LOOK OUT. GROWING ANXIETY FELT. FUEL FOR 45 HOURS ONLY. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received November 18, 7.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON, Nov. 17. Thore is growing anxiety owing to the absence of any news of Mr. Bert Hinkler and Captain R. H. Mcintosh, who will have been absent for 60 hours on their flight to India, at midnight. Their fuel would be exhausted in 45 hours. Their pioneer route was over very lonely stretches of country, and a forced landing would mean days before a messago could reach England. They carried only sufficient rations for the flight. It is considered that if they kept their course they would certainly have been observed at some point on the route. Hinkler is such a skilful navigator that the possibility that he may have lost his direction is ruled out by the experts. The Russian authorities are searching the territory over which it is presumed they passed. A message from Karachi says an aeroplane passed there early this morning. If this, is correct, their route will lie over the Sind Desert, where a descent would be dangerous. Royal Air Force machines are searching for the missing plane, which did not carry a wireless installation. COBHAM MAKES START. PLANE LEAVES ROCHESTER. SURVEY OF AFRICAN COAST. (British Official Wireless.) A. and N.Z. RUGBY, Nov. 17. (Received November 18, 9.5 p.m.) Sir AJan Cobham, who is accompanied by Lady Cobham, Captain Worrall, two engineers and a cinematograph operator, left Rochester to-day for his air survey of the African coastline. The huge all-metal flying-boat, heavily laden, proceeded up the Thames and flew low over London, where crowds cheered its passage. Then it went on to Reading and Southampton, where it will be moored for the night. To-morrow the flight will be resumed to Bordeaux. Sir Alan said the object was to gain data of the Cape to Cairo airway, and to investigate the possibility of operating giant flying boats from Capetown to England. If the route were to be operated regularly, one of the loads already promised was a ton of gold daily. PACIFIC VENTUEE. PLANS' OF CAPTAIN GILES. POSTPONEMENT OF START. A. and N.Z. SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17. . Captain F. A. Giles, the Australian airman, has postponed the commencement of his Pacific flight until to-morrow. After his machine had been wheeled to the runway and fuelled, Captain Giles announced that the runway was too muddy to permit the heavy plane to take off. The weather between here and Hawaii is reported to be almost ideal for the flight.