MANY RUMOURS ABROAD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3853, 17 January 1928, Page 28

MANY RUMOURS ABROAD.

NO TRUTH IN STATEMENTS. WELLINGTON, January 14. There is no news, except negative news, from any of the searcher a for the aeroplane or the airmen. Conditions were unfavourable for a continuance of the air patrol this morning, the visibility being bad.

The town is still full of rumours, some possible, others with a probable sound about them, and others again of such a natur e that it is surprising that those who hear them attach sufficient importance to them to consider them worth passing on. . Not for many years—certainly never since the war or the epidemic of 1918— have the people of Wellington been so extremely agitated—a .direct effect of a keen anxiety, conscious or unconscious, to believe even now that the end is not reached. The rumours now have changed. One or another of the men, generally Lieutenant Moncrieff, has walked into Levin, into Shannon, or some up-country farmhouse. There is, unhappily, no truth in these statements.

The belief in the reports of the sighting or the hearing of the machine has dwindled, for these reports will not bear a matter-of-fact investigation. The noise of the engine has been described as a roaring exhaust, but the Wright whirlwind engine is a peculiarly quiet engine for an aeroplane motor. The later reports of the sighting of the .machine from various points differ front those first made. A number of the earlier reports referred to a bright li<ht on the machine or to flares. It was definitely established by

cabled messages from Sydney that the machine carried no lights, apart from a small flash lamp handed to Lieutenant Aloncrieff at the last minute, the flash from which would be invisible from anything but a very short distance, and a bundle of cotton waste from which flashes would at a pinch be improvised. The reports have changed to reconcile themselves with these conditions and to fit in with the suggeston from Sydney that the burning gases from the exhaust might have resembled flares. Thus, there are reports of observers who have’ seen a “ dull glow ” under varying circumstances, rhe exhaust flame, however, is not a " dull red ’’ glow, but a flame of bright colour, but it is visible for onlv a short distance—perhaps a couple of" hundred yards.

DEPARTMENTAL REPORT.

LAST MESSAGE FROM THE AEROPLANE. CHRISTCHURCH, January 14. Mr R. J. Baggs, who was detailed by the Telegraph Department to pick up the signals from the airmen, says he has no doubt that the signals received from 5.12 to 5.22 on the day of the flight were from the ’plane. They were first picked up on a wave-length of 33.35 metres, and no commercial stations were sending on »hat wave length at that time.

SEARCH OF WEST COAST.

AS FAR SOUTH AS MARTIN’S BAY. WELLINGTON, January 14. The Minister of Defence (Mr F. J. Rolleston) advised this afternoon that in view of suggestions that the airmen may have landed on one of the beaches on the West Coast of the South Island, the Government has arranged that all beaches as far south as Martin’s Bay, which had not already been searched, should be searched forthwith.

All telephone stations as far south as Martin’s Bay had been advised two days ago, but instructions had been given for a more extended search.

MESSAGES FROM OTHER SOURCES.

NO SIGNIFICANCE IN BUSH SMOKE. WELLINGTON, January 14. Further reports regarding the supposed smoke signals from the missing airmen go to show that it was piobably a scrub fire. Similar smoke was seen two days ago. Search parties are out in that direction, and would have seen the smoke and no doubt have reported the matter had they considered it necessary. Both the Post Office and th e police have investigated the smoke seen rising in the hills behind Levin and are of the opinion that it comes from a scrub fire on the property of Robbie Bros., on the heights above Ihakara. Mr G. S. Phillips, forest ranger at Kaitoke, has reported to the postmaster at Featherston that be has seen through a field glass what might be the remains of the aeroplane on the slopes of “ Omega,” close to the Greytown-Otaki track, twothirds of the way up from the Tauherenikau River swing bridge. The objects have the appearance—one, of a tent, 2ft wide by 4ft high, and the other of a grey white flat-looking object. The distance is about 10 miles airline, and the bearings are from the Bayonet trig roughly lOdeg east of north. This is in the line of Otaki-Featherston, where smoke was observed in the green bush between the headwaters of the Kerekere and Snowv Creek at. 4 p.m. on Friday for half aii hour. Kerekere is on the other side of the Hutt River from Kaitoke. Mr Phillips discerned the objects through a pair of powerful glasses. The mountains were to-day enveloped in fog. The locality was closely examined by a party later, who discovered no reason' to associate the smoke with a signal. The police are taking no further action, deeming it not warranted.

PATROL OF THE SEA.

CONDITIONS UNFAVOURABLE. AV ELLINGTON, January 14. The Marine Department received a radio message from the tug "’iia at 10.24 a.m. to-day stating that si 8 as at latitude 40deg 30min S., 170<ieg 25min E., at 10 a.m. At about !) o’clock to-mor-row morning she will be at latitude 39deg 50min S., 173 deg 20min E. Moderate southerly weather was being experienced. These positions show that the Toia is to the west of the Manawatu River and is working up to the north-west of Cape Egmont.

The only word received from the Dunedin and Diomede was of a technical nature, giving particulars as to positions, etc.

Captain Findlay, operating from Trentham, found conditions altogether against a search from the air. The mist was this morning lying right down on the hills, cutting out visibility completely. Captain Buckley was advised by Wellington to-day to patrol the west coast from Farewell Spit to Karamea, but heavy southerly weather now prevails, and nothing can be done. The airmen think that the clouds are massed practically all over the territory to be covered, rendering any flight useless. Everything was ready for the flight this morning. THE KAIRANGA AT AUCKLAND. ♦ “ NOTHING WAS SEEN.” AUCKLAND, January 15. Nothing was seen or heard of the missin? aeroplane by the officers and crew of

the Union Company’s steamer Kairanga; which reached Auckland from Melbourne on Saturday morning.

THE AVIATORS’ CALL SIGNS.

; AN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION. J,. WELLINGTON, January 14. A cablegram from Sydney yesterday paid that the statement had been made there that call signs and an interpretation code to be used in the wireless apparatus installed on the aeroplane were wired to the Government wireless station at Wellington and to ships within wireless distance of Sydney and Wellington.

This statement was referred to the Secretary-General of the Post Office, who gives it a specific denial. No information was received by the department in regard to any special code signals or interpretation code signals to be ..sed on the aeroplane’s wireless apparatus. The only arrangement with the department was that the aeroplane should send a continuous whine for five minutes at each quarter of the hour. This apparently was -not done, as the whine received was over longer periods and at irregular times.

Mrs- Hood discredits the statements that her husband did not know the Morse code. She declares it would have Been impossible for her husband to have qualified as a captain in the Royal Air Force without being able to satisfy the examiners that he had a practical working knowledge of the Morse code. Even when he went annually to Christchurch to undergo the refresher court?; she understood that practice in Morse signalling was part of the programme.

Mrs Moncrieff also declared that her husband had passed the qualifying test of a certain number of words per minute. She was confident, also, of Lieutenant Mouerieff's navigational qualifications, for he had spent the past six months studying the subject.

OBSERVATIONS FROM ARAHURA.

STEWARDS REPEAT THEIR STATEMENT.

THE KAIWARRA'S REPORT. WELLINGTON, January 14.

Four stewards of the steamer Arahura remain unshaken in their belief that they saw the light of an aeroplane on Tuesday night at 11.13. They say they kept it under observation for three minutes. They could hear nothing, but say that the noise on a steamer of the size of the Arahura was sufficient to drown the noise of a ’plane as far distant as this one, which they estimated would be probably eight miles. The light moved from a point ahead of the Arahura to a point astern, and could not possibly have been the light of a scow on account of the speed of the movement.

It is officially stated that five coastal ships, including the Inaha, the Breeze, the Kapiti, and the Hawera were steaming at intervals from Cape Terawhiti and Kapiti Island between 9.30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Tuesday, and more than one jf these vessels saw the Kaiwarra bound from Wellington to Sydney, which reported seeing flares dropped between Paekakariki and Stephen Island, but although they were all keeping a good look-out they saw nothing indicating the presence of an aeroplane, and their masters scout the idea altogether. In connection with beliefs that the aviators may have been picked up by a vessel if they were forced into the sea. it is stated that not a single ship is known to have been at sea between Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday that has not since arrived in port somewhere or other, or has been in communication by radio.

WARSHIPS TO RETURN.

LARGE AREA COVERED.

WEATHER CONDITIONS UNFAVOURABLE.

WELLINGTON, January 15. The Minister of Defence (Mr F. J. Rolleston) received a message from Commodore Swabey on Saturday night to the effect that an area of 2400 square miles had been searclied by the three ships, Dunedin, Diomede, and Toia, without the dis covery of any trace of the missing men or their aeroplane. A later message stated that a heavy sea was then running, which would effectually destroy before daylight on Sunday any wreckage that might still be afloat, and that any further search at sea was considered useless. In view of this the Minister lias agreed that the warships should return to Auckland, and that the Toia should return to Wellington.

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR

SUCCESS AND -TRAGEDY.

TASMAN MACHINE DESCRIBED. The flight across the Tasman has been ft dream of aviation enthusiasts in New Zealand, and in Australia also, for a- long time past—since before, in fact, English, Continental, and American airmen commenced piling record on record, from 1910 when the Atlantic was crossed first via Newfoundland, .the Azores, Lisbon, and England, and a little later in a non-stop flight from Newfoundland to Ireland by the British airmen, Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Brown, in November of that year. Finance was always the first difficulty, and there was. moreover, no assurance that there would be found the right tnachine and the right men to take it

across. In the light of experiences, tragic, sensational, or gloriously successful, of flying men of the older world, it is apparent now that the earlier proposals for a transtasman flight were impossible of achievement, or only possible by a marvellously fortunate combination of conditions and circumstances. Air navigation over great distances and aircraft‘reliability have been built up during very recent years. Over and above that, practically -nothing was known of the air conditions at flying levels over the Tasman, nor, indeed, was the need of as full knowledge as possible truly appreciated until experiences elsewhere had bitterly emphasised it.

There are two types of long-distance flights, those made up of long and short hops, by which the pilot covers many thousands of miles, and single extended flights. Some of The most notable of the multi-stage flights were the aeroplane journey in 1919 of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith from England to Australia, and, in 1925, Sir Alan Cobham’s flying boat journey from England to Australia and back, 26,000 miles; the round the world flight of the American army ’planes, 27,553 miles; and De Pinedo’s marvellous flying boat voyage of 48,000 miles, touching Italy, Africa, South America, North America, and the Azores. In the single extended flight the pilot demands of himself and his motor the last ounce; in this class are the flights of Lindbergh, across the Atlantic; of Kelly and Macready, who took an army monoplane from New York to the Pacific Coast, 2520 miles; and a number of overland flights from Continental centres to Siberia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Both types test the machine and the man to the utmost. UNKNOWN FLYING CONDITIONS. Compared with the vast stretches of airways travelled in non-stop flights in the Northern Hemisphere, the transtasman distance is not so great in miles, but when the New Zealand aviators leave the Australian coastline behind they will fly into an unknown region; the paper course will be clear before them, but as to the conditions of the 1430 miles of air ahead there is no guide book. The Tasman is a storm centre for most of the winds that blow, but meteorologically it is a No Man’s Land, and sea surface conditions are' known more by their effects than from their causes. The Tasman’s weather apparently moves not so much from Australia to New Zealand, or vice versa, as from the south-west, from the Antarctic, and the broad charting of weather is therefore practically an impossibility; localised charting, from steamship reports, has not so far ranked in high importance. Even had there been a collection of such data over many years, so systematically gathered and compiled as to enable ocean and land forecasts to be made upon a broader basis than at present, the upper air conditions would remain a blank unknown, and the key to the storms within the storm which are the weather puzzles of the Tasman would still be missing. The Atlantic, the scene of the most spectacular ocean flights, has been weather-charted day after day for years, but nothing definite was known of the flying strata until airmen crossed it. It was generally known that the prevailing winds were from west to east, and something was known of the kind of storm that might be. met ■when such and such conditions held on the surface; the dangers of snow and ice were realised, but no one knew how to meet them; none knew when conditions would be suitable all the way across; the only important data available were those regarding surface winds. It was probably insufficient knowledge of what dangers faced them in the icy sea mists of the North Atlantic that was responsible for the loss of such expert airmen as Nungesser and Coli in the early months of 1927. FLYING BLIND.

Lindbergh contributed the first definite Knowledge of the weather conditions to be faced on the transatlantic flight. He met fog and tried to climb over it, but failed. He flew as high as his heavily-loaded 'plane would carry ’him without being able to top the curtain. And when he did get up ice began to form on his ’plane, and he was forced to dive for warmer air near the water. Chamberlin found that he could avoid the ice by flying low, but he drifted far from his course owing to the failure of his main compass. Byrd met even worse conditions than Lindbergh, and proved again that it is impossible for present-day ’planes to escape the treacherous fog. His ability as a navigator was useless to him much of the time, for lie could see neither sea nor sky, and, like his predecessors, he had to rely mostly on dead reckoning. Lindbergh was, however, not the first to cross the Atlantic, and the honour of the., first non-stop flight went to England, not to America. Eight times previously the air trip had been made bv aeroplane or dirigible. There were three crossings in 1919. The first was when a United States navy ’plane crossed from Newfoundland to the Azores and then to Lisbon and England. In June of that year the first non-stop flight was made by the English flyers Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown from Newfoundland to Ireland. A month later tho British dirigible R 34 flew from Scotland to the States and back to England. In 1924 American army ’planes crossed bv way of Greenland in their round the' world flight, and in the same year the Zeppelin ZR3, later renamed the Los Angeles, flew from Friedrichshafen. In 1926 the Spanish aviator, Hamon Franco, flew from Spain to the Argentine, making stops at Cape Verde Island and Fernando Noronha. Then came de Pinedo, flying from, Italy to Brazil, following much the same route as that taken by Franco. But Lindbergh started almost blind as far as weather conditions were concerned. ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC TRAGEDIES.

When it came to attempting the passage a’oni cast to west it was found that conditions were not nearly so favourable as for the eastward trip. British, French and German pilots waited weeks for favourable weather. A French- pilot who started ran into a blinding fog before he cleared the land. Captain Leslie Hamilton, Lieutenant Al inchin, and the Princess LowesteinWertheijn took off from England in what seemed to.be fairly good weather, but disappeared in the fog barrier. Pacific flights began and brief. aviation history repeated itself. Those who had prepared thoroughly succeeded; those who

did not failed. Maitland and Ilegen berger otajined their flight and studied"air conditions for more than a year. Yet al one time they seemou to have failed, in spite of the thoroughness with which they made ready. They had not expected cold over the Pacific at the altitude at which they would fly. But when they were parr wav across one of their three motors beg'an to sputter and they lost altitude steadily until, for no reason apparently the motor picked up. An intake valve had frozen and then thawed out again as they came down towards the sea. Smith and Bronte made the flight with success, though they crashed in the Hono* lulu landing, fortunately without either being injured Then came the disastrous Dole* prize race, and in the desire to get into the race pilots prepared with more haste than wisdom. The emotion of long distance flights had gripped them and they were determined to go, rushing their work and leaving insufficient time for the full testing of their machines. Three pilots were killed before the race started, two machines, not tested under, the tremendous weight of fuel, failed in the take-off, another had early engine trouble and returned, but what happened to the Golden Eagle, the Miss Dran, and the Dallas Spirit will probably never be known. PROVING THE MACHINE. These and the tragedies which have followed them proved the vital importance of careful, painstaking, and detailed pre parations for long distance flights, especially when they are rendered more hazardous by the sea. The history of long distance flying has been largely one of courage ana skill, backed by luck, and designers and builders have been working with exact scien titic attention to detail to eliminate the lucx factor. “Luck” lies chiefly in the motor. The Wright Whirlwind motor in the Aotea-Roa, similar to that used by Lindbergh, and by Chamberlin and Byrd. « regarded as the best air-cooled motor of its power in the world, from which the luck element has been reduced to the least possible minimum, but, as was tragicallv shown in the Pacific flights of the Dole Prize race (all the machines starting being equipped with this engine), no motor, no matter how excellent in design, can be depended upon, hour on hour, unless tuned to perfection; a defective spark plug, faulty valve adjustment, any one of a dozen things may bring its efficiency down with a run. The plane must prove its capacity to lift the tremendous fuel weight; theoretical knowledge of that capacity will not do, for theory cannot be cheeked after the motor roars and the land is far behind. , The millcnium in flying, when the aviator may step aboard his ’plane for a nonstop flight assured that his motor will run while there is petrol in the tank, is still far ahead, but the development in reliability during the past few years—the world was really only beginning to fly when the war ended —has been steadily progressive. Lindbergh shot over 3310 miles of the North Atlantic, and that was the first the world at large had heard of him, and immediately recognised in him an intrepid and lucky young fool, the world's greatest stunter. But Lindbergh had been flying for years before he startled the world; he was intrepid, but he had proved his machine and himself air mail flying for years in all sorts of weather. Captain Kingsford Smith and Lieutenant Pond, who propose to cross the Pacific from San Francisco to Australia, have been a long time over the testing of their m.tor and ’plane, their backers making it a condition that an endurance record must be set up before the ocean flight is undertaken. As is earlier stated m this ar’cle, the successful Pacific flight to Honolulu by Maitland and Hegenbergst was planned and replanned for a year. But between these vast ocean flights and the crossing of the Tasman is the great difference in air miles. The Atlantic non-stop flights have ranged from 2000 to over 4000 miles, for Chamberlin and his millionaire backer and passenger, Levine, wandered far from the planned course in fog and rain, and the Hawaiian flight crosses 2098 miles of the Pacific if a true line is maintained from point to point? Lindbergh carried 451 gallons of petrol when he took off. Maitland and Hegenberger took off for Honolulu with their triple-engined ’plane loaded with 18,9001 b. Captain Kingsford Smith estimates that 1600 gallons of petrol will he required to cross the Pacific to Australia, but he will carry three Wright motors on his ’plane. The Aotea-Roa, thousrh in the main similar to the Ryan monoplane flown by Lindbergh, is somewhat smaller and is to start the flight with less than half the petrol, - 200 gallons, as against 451. The engine is similar to Lindbergh’s, the best engine of its class and power available.

PLANE AND EQUIPMENT. The general specifications of these Wright Whirlwinds are as follow:—

.Model J, 5c. —Bore, 4.5 in; stroke, 5.5 in; displacement, 783 cubic inches; compression ratio, 5.2 to 1; guaranteed h.p. at sea level, 200 at 1800 revs, per minute; weight, dry, 5091 b (average); length over all, 34in; diameter over all, 45in; fuel consumption at 200 h.p., not more than .61b per h.p. per hour; oil consumption at 200 h.p., not more than ,0251 b per h.p. per hour.

It is a motor developed under the keenest and most scientific competition, with a particular eye to long-distance and commercial. flying, air-cooled, and designed for economic as well as high reliable performance. In addition to strains placed upon these engines during the great ocean flights, Wright Whirlwinds have been subjected to exceptionally severe machine room tests. Three 54-hour endurance tests carried out indicate its extreme durability. Though the plane is a land machine and would be unable to rise and continue the flight in the event of a,forced descent in mid-sea, it is so designed and constructed as to remain safely on the water for something like 12 hours in average conditions. Air chambers and floats are built into the craft, and a collapsible rubber boat with water and rations is part of the equipment. AN ELECTRICAL COMPASS.

The. most important of all the equipment is, however, a special form of compass, the. earth inductor compass/ It is totally different in form and in principle from the ship’s compass, and the magnetic needle has no part in it. Stated simply and. briefly, the earth inductor compass has as its essential feature a small electric generator, and a dial which shows varia-’ tions in the plane’s direction. The genera-

for 1? a miniature dynamo, but there is no field magnet. The purpose of the dynamo’s field magnet is to create “ lines of force.” which induce in the central armature electrical currents which are picked up from the spinning armature by means of “ brushes.” which Tn the simplest form of dynamo are two in number, on the opposite side of the armature. There is a definite position in relation to the field magnet from which these brushes will pick up a maximum current, and as’they are moved, the -current picked up falls. Conversely, if the' brushes are held steady, and the field magnet is moved round, the same effect is produced. In the earth inductor compass the artiis replaced by the earth’s magnetic field, in which the armature spins. As the plane changes direction it swings (and the brushes move) in relation to the of force of the earth’s magnetic held, and the current taken from the armature varies accordingly. An electrical measuring instrument—a form of voltmeter—reads off the variations in current, but the dial is marked to register, not volts, but direction changes. WHAT THE FLIGHT MEANS.

The venture may be regarded from any one of several aspects: It is the last Jong jump on the Imperial airways from the Homeland to her dominions, and one of the most difficult of all these air connections; the completion of the flights of the bmith brothers and Sir Alan Cobham; it is a means to the further ’ impression on the public mind of the increasing safety and ultimate certainty of general travel by air; a means to awaken New Zealand to the necessity of a defence system adequate to the conditions that must come with the steady development of aircraft and air navigation; a pioneer exploration of air routes from which lessons of the greatest importance may be learned and passed on; as a flight to New Zealand across what may be regarded as the home ocean, by New Zealanders determined to be first across. No one of these considerations will stand alone as the force which impelled the aviators to tackle the double task, first of interesting others sufficiently to make the attempt a financial possibility, then of the long flight over an unknown but much suspected airway itself. The great probability—the certainty, in fact—is that the' first task loomed before them as the greater and the less likely of achievement: of the flight achievement they were obviously confident from the first.

THE AVIATORS.

Since the flight to New Zealand was decided upon, Lieutenant Monerieff Jias been one of the certainties to make the trip. As fate, in the way of illness or some other misfortune, has failed to eliminate either Captain Hood or Captain Knight, this matter was decided by the toss of a coin, resulting in favour of Captain Hood, while the naturally disappointed Captain Knight has accepted his defeat in a most sportsmanlike spirit. Lieutenant John Robert Monerieff. whose home is in Brooklyn road, is well known in Wellington. He was born at Lerwick, Shetland Islands, in 1898, and came to New Zealand when he was 16 years of age. He learned his trade as a motor engineer, and, after enlisting in 1917, he went through a course in aviation at the Wigram Aerodrome, Christchurch. Subsequently he went to England. where, after further instruction, be qualified as a flying officer just before the end of the war. After going through a further 12 months’ course of instruc tion, he returned to New Zealand in 1920. Lieutenant Monerieff, who holds a ■ position with the A.B.C. Motor Garage, is a member of the New Zealand Air Force, and goes through his annual refresher course at theWigram Aerodrome. Captain George Hood, a son of Mr F. Hood, one of the early settlers in the Wairarapa, was born at Master ton 35 years ago. He left New Zealand with the Main Body of the Expeditionary Force, and served at Gallipoli and in France. Towards the end of the war he transferred to the Royal Air Force, but met with an accident while flying in England. Since his return to New-Zealand he has taken a refresher course each year at the Wigram Aerodrome.