AVIATION

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 32

AVIATION

DREW’S TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE. ’ LONDON. August 3. A copyright message gives Captain Courtney's own story aboard the Minnewaska. He states: “ The ’plane caught fire abruptly, and nearly tragically ended the flight. I decided after leaving Horta on August 1 to fly a southerly course in order to put the head winds abeam as I finished the trip, expecting to arrive at Newfoundland in 17 hours. After we had been flying for three hours the moon rose under a cloud blanket. The crew ■was comfortably stowed. Hugh Gilmour, the wireless operator, ascertained from steamers that the direction of the •wind differed from the forecast. While I was recalculating the course we lost sight of the sun and sky, and ran into a blinding rainstorm. We hit many ferocious bumps, though the engines were runnings admirably, the earburation was perfect, and the instruments accurate. The rain stopped for two hours, but we were still flying blind at an altitude of 1800 feet. We climbed to inspect the upper side of the clouds at 3500 feet. This was too high to cope with the adverse winds. We descended below the clouds to 1000 feet, but it was too dark to see the water. The clouds broke at 2.15 in the morning, and we obtained a glimpse of the moon, climbing to 1500 feet.

“ I was discussing the engines with the mechanic, Fred Pierce, when I saw the •most horrible sight of my flying career. The cheery exhaust flame behind suddenly Changed to a dull red glow. I was stunned,to see the rear engine enveloped Jn flames, stretching out like a giant blowlamp rearwards over Elwood Hosmer's Seat, and beyond the rudder. The tail of the machine in the darkness must have resembled a grotesque red comet. The situation seemed a nightmare. It did not oeeur to me that we could reach the water before the tail •» as burned. My subsequent actions merely blindly followed piloting instinct, which possibly saved us. Pierce rushed into the engine room and turned off the petrol. Three seconds later it would have been too late. I cut off all the switches, and threw the machine into a headlong dive through the blackness with the vague idea of burning up the escaped petrol if Pierce should have failed to turn off the cocks. The dive shot Gilmour from his seat. As I drew out of the dive with the burning seaplane overloaded by one ton I saw the tlow reflected the wave crests, and managed to put the machine on one crest. I ran down the hill of water and up the next, just preventing the seaplane from shooting into the air off the crest. The machine, after several jolts, came to rest ■without damage. Pierce, - during the descent, amazingly succeeded in turning off the cocks and applying the fire extinguisher inside the engine room .greatly diminishing the flames, the remainder of which, instead of streaming out behind, burned directly over the opening in the hull, which contained GOO gallons of petrol. The fire extinguisher was exhausted, and the flames burned fiercely for a quarter of an hour, while we four stood awaiting the final explosion, which never came.

“When the flames had subsided we erected the boathooks to support the emergency wireless. Gilmour sent S.O.S. calls, but received no reply. We decided to conserve the batteries by awaiting daybreak. When the engine room had cooled we found that the petrol pipe had broken, causing the petrol pressure to be forced against the engine near the exhaust. The breakage as it developed must have caused an accumulation of petrol to give a good send-off when the fumes reached the exhaust. The metal engine mounting was burned through like paper. If ’the machine had not been made of metal it would not have survived for .five minutes. “ Gilmour resumed the S.O.S. calls at daybreak. The steamer Cedric answered, ano I checked our position, but by the time an accurate estimate had been sent we had drifted 30 miles. The batteries gradually ran out as the liner searched. We knew the position was serious, and put the last power into directional signals to the Minnewaska. We tried smoke signals, and nearly re-ignited the machine. We waited dejectedly, and were seasick owing to the continual rolling. Gilmour announced casually * Ship sighted.’ I called him a liar, and looked and saw the finest sight I have ever seen—the Minnewaska steaming towards us.

** I have railed again fly across the Atlantic, but I am not disheartened, as failure has proved my point better than success. I have always insisted that a seaworthy machine and efficient wireless are essential to successful ocean flights. Those principles saved our lives in about as bad a situation as aviators ever were in.”

Several liners had to quit hteir course to rush to his assistance. The efforts of all but one were necessarily vain. The aggregate cost was probably between £7OOO and £BOOO.

A shipping official points out that while vessels are always ready to answer distress messages from ships, the Atlantic flyers are in a different category, inasmuch as they star out knowing that they will be lionised if successful, but they do not consider the expense caused if anything goes wrong.