AIRMAN MISSING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21742, 6 March 1934, Page 9

AIRMAN MISSING

ANXIETY IN FRANCE CAPTAIN COSTES' FATE PARIS, March 4 Grave fears are felt for Captain Costes, the famous airman, who left Le Bourget at noon on Saturday on a nonstop ilight to Copenhagen in a small touring aeroplane. It is thought he may have fallen into the North Sea, which Danish airmen in two seaplanes are searching. Captain Dieudonne Costes has been the hero of several long flights. He was the first to make a non-stop flight across the South Atlantic with Lieutenant Le Brix, on October 10, 1927. Flying first to Africa, he crossed the Atlantic to Natal, Brazil, on October 14. In 1926. Costes flew with Captain Ilignot from Paris to Jask, Persia, thence to Karachi and Calcutta, returning via Basra, Aleppo, Athens and Home. Again in 1919, this time with Lieutenant Bellonte, the intrepid airman covered the .4941 miles from Le Bourget to Manchuria, constituting a world's record for distance. Captain Costes' last notable flight -sras commenced on September 1, 1930, when, with Lieutenant Belloutc, he again flew the Atlantic in the aeroplane Question Mark, landing at New York 37 hours 18 minutes after leaving Paris. This success caused a wave of enthusiasm throughout France and a sum of £20,000 was subscribed for the two airmen. BELGIANS KILLED CRASH IN THE SAHARA DISCOVERY OF BODIES LONDON, March 4 A message from Fez, Morocco, states that two Belgian airmen who were flying from Gao, Nigeria, to Brussels, were missing for two days. Their bodies were .found incinerated beneath the wreckage of the aeroplane in the Sahara Desert.