SMITH'S BRIEF STORY.

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

SMITH'S BRIEF STORY.

THE FORCED LANDING.

COMFORTED BY WIRELESS. " '(World Copyright.) PERTH, April 20. Before Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith left Derby he told a brief story of the ferced landing of the Southern Cross to Colonel Mansfield. He reiterated a number of the points which were disclosed in Flight-Lieutenant Ulm s diary and went on to say;— " We were flying blind for several hours before we were forced down. When we were over Port George I\. mission station we had about enough petrol for an hour and a-half left, so .we dropped a message asking in which direction Wyndham lay. The reply was made in figures on the ground, namely, 150 miles, and a man pointed in an easterly direction. " Thereupon we flew in that direction for about 50 minutes. Then, realising that our petrol was not sufficient to enable ■ / us to reach Wyndham, we turned back. We flew for 25 minutes, still in rain, low clouds and bad visibility. Being unable to see the mission station we landed safely on a soft grassy swamp with a fuel supply enough for about 10 minutes. " Our position was somewhat obscured from rescuing aeroplanes and owing to our weakness and the dampness of our fuel we could not make largo fires. "However, we were always comfoitcd by Mac's efforts in receiving broadcasts from Sydney radio stations which told of the attempts to find us. " Although we said to each other: ' We must eventually get out of this all right, nevertheless 1 knew from our own per; onal thoughts we were all fearful that all that would l>£ found would be our dilapidated old lius and some bones. When we were sighted Litch. and I, with tears in our eyes, hugged each other and said: ' God bless old Les Holden.