DUCHESS OF BEDFORD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22694, 5 April 1937, Page 9

DUCHESS OF BEDFORD

STRUT OF AEROPLANE FOUND LONDON, April 2 An aeroplane strut which was found on the beach near Great Yarmouth has been identified as being from the Duchess of Bedford's machine. LIFE OF ADVENTURE LAST LETTER TO FRIEND LONDON, March 30 The Daily Telegraph publishes what is believed to be the last letter written by the Duchess of Bedford, aged 71, before she started on a short solo flight on March 22 from her privato aerodrome at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and failed to return.

The letter, which was addressed to a friend, relates her many adventures nt sea and in the air. It recalls that before the war the Duchess always voyaged to the north in her yacht as far as the ice would allow. She visited, among other ice-bound lands, Spitsbergen, before it had any inhabitants except occasional trappers, and sho spent a month there. The Duchess wrote: "I lent the explorer Elmar Mikkelsen a chronometer when he walked across Greenland. Later I lent it to Dr. Wilson when he accompanied Captain Scott to the South Pole. It was returned to me a year after his death, and it has flown with me whenever I have been abroad." The friend of the Duchess is unnamed, but is apparently a long-dis-tance aviator, as she adds: "My experiences enable me to appreciate your uncomfortable moment. It recalls my attempt on the Indian record with Captain Barnard, when wo made a forced landing at Bushiro. The cabin was filled with smoke. Then, aftor securing the Indian record, I made a record flight to the Capo with Captain Barnard amid horrible weather, We had to fly above the troetops. Later, with FlightLieutenant Allen, I flew blind over the Balkans in a snowstorm, the ice flaking off the propeller and banging against the fuselage. Again, with Flight-Lieu-tenaht Preston, I had two forced landings."