DISCOVERY ON DESERT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20236, 22 April 1929, Page 11

DISCOVERY ON DESERT.

/' DEAD MAN UNDER WING. OBSERVATION FROM AIR. MECHANIC STILL MISSING. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received April 22, 12.55 a.m.) SYDNEY, "April 21. The aeroplane Kookaburra, in which Lieutenant Keith Anderson i »nd his mechanic, Mr. 11. S. Hitchcock, have been missing for 11 days, *as discovered in tho desert to-day by Pilot Brain, one of the aviaJors who had been searching for tho two men in the Northern {Territory. A dead man was seen under one wing. He is believed to bo Lieutenant Anderson. Tho other man is still missing. Pilot Brain is attached to Quantas Airways, Limited, of Queensland. A message from Brisbane says Brain, who was flying in tho aeroplane Atlanta, sent a message to-night saying he had found the Kookaburra in tho desert about 80 miles west by north of Powell's Creek. He circled low and one man was seen lying under one of tho wings. Apparently he had been dead some days. lie looked like Anderson. There was no sign of the other man. Brain dropped a can of water attached to a small parachute. The Kookaburra appeared to bo undamaged v It was standing at the east end of a large patch of ground which had largely been burnt off and was still smoking. Pack horses with a party of black trackers were setting out from Wave Hill without delay. Brain suggested that other airmen should join him in the search for Hitchcock. Lieutenant Anderson and Mr. Hitchcock were last seen on Wednesday, April 10, in their aeroplane Kookaburra, at Woodford, 100 miles north-west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, on the way to Wyndham to aid in the search then proceeding for the Southern Cross. The crew of the latter spent a few hours in the air yesterday. They searched an area of 50 miles north-east of the Port George IV. mission station and the country en route to Wyndham, without finding the slightest trace of the missing men. An organised search by pilots in several aeroplanes of the West Australian and Queensland Airways Companies, and by others in Royal/Australian Air Force machines, has been proceeding from a base in Central Australia. Reports state that some of the country searched is desert with an entire absence of water. The heat is terrific below 3000 ft. The hope of finding Lieutenant Anderson and Mr. Hitchcock alive began to die yesterday. Admitting that there was not more than a remote chance of finding the two men alive, however, Air Force officials said they proposed to continue the search. When the Kookaburra left Alice Springs the airmen had with them only three bottles of water and a packet of sandwiches. Seven aeroplanes were utilised in the search yesterday, including the Southern Cross. Three Air Force machines arrived at Alice Springs in the afternoon. The Queensland aeroplane equipped with wireless also joined irr the search. The Southern Cross was overhauled yesterday. Lieutenant Anderson and Mr. Hitchcock have been missing since Wednesday, April 10. They had left Richmond in the Kookaburra on the previous Sunday, en route for. Wyndham'to aid in the search for the Southern Cross. They were said to have been seen at - Woodford, 100 miles north-west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, on April 10. They then had a 600--mile flight ahead of them to Wyndham largely over a sandy desert. On Thursday last it was rumoured that their machine was seen and heard 100 miles south of Wyndham, which would be somewhere near Wave Hill.