AVIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 29

AVIATION.

GERMAN AIR DISASTER.

A CRASH NEAR DRESDEN. BERLIN, October 6.

A Lufthansa aeroplane, while flying from Berlin to Vienna, crashed near Dresden.

The pilot, the mechanic, and seven passengers were killed.

This is the most serious accident that has ever happened in Germany.

TWO WOMEN ON BOARD. BERLIN, October 6.

The passengers on the Lufthansa plane included two women and an Englishman. The machine was a new one, single engined, with accommodation for 15 passengers. It was preparing to land at Dresden, when it was caught in a squall and got into a spin. It crashed like a stone and nose-dived to the ground.

FLIGHTS TO AUSTRALIA.

ATTEMPT TO BREAK RECORD. RUGBY, October 6.

An attempt to establish a new Eng-land-to-Australia flying record began at dawn to-day, when Flying-officer Chabot and Major Pickthorne left Croydon in aDe Haviland Puss Moth. By alternatively taking over the controls and flying during the night as well as during the day they hope to reach Australia in seven days. No wireless is carried, but the equipment includes a collapsible fabric boat which is inflated by a hand pump. The route is divided into nine stages, of which the longest is 1500 miles.

FLYERS DETAINED IN PERSIA. LONDON, October 10. Major Pickthorne and Flying-officer Chabot have arrived at Lingah (in the Persian Gulf). They were detained by the Persian authorities owing to passport trouble.

ARRIVED AT SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE, October 11. Flight-lieutenant Hill arrived at 5 o’clock this evening after a rapid flight of nine hours from Jask. In an interview he said: “ All has gone well since leaving London.” He said he hoped to beat Captain Hinkler’s record by increasing his speed and lengthening the stages.

COMMANDER SMITH TAKES OFF. LONDON, October 9. Wing-commander Kingsford Smith left Heston at dawn for Australia.

DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS. ATHENS, October 10. Wing-commander Kingsford Smith has arrived.

LONDON, October 12. Kingsford Smith has arrived at Bushire.

CAPTAIN MATTHEWS AT KARACHI.

SINGAPORE, October 11. Captain Metthews, who was forced down before reaching Singora, has arrived at Karachi.

MRS VICTOR BRUCE MISSING.

LAST SEEN NEAR PERSIA. DELHI, October 7. Mrs Victor Bruce is missing again. It was previously reported that she landed at Jask, but although search parties have scoured 300 miles of desolate Persian coast between Jask and Bunder Abbas there are no signs of her, and it is feared that she crashed in the sea between the island of Henjam, over which she was observed on Sunday afternoon, and the mainland. There is still hope, as a Dutch airmail plane which was due at Karachi yesterday has not arrived. Possibly it has seen Mrs Bruce’s plane and landed to assist her. All Persian Gulf stations and ships have been combed but up to last evening there was no news.

CRASH NORTH OR JASK.

MACHINE BADLY DAMAGED. DELHI, October 8.

“ Crashed. Please help,” was the message from Mrs Victor Bruce brought by Persian tribesmen to the cable office at Jask last night. According to the messenger, Mrs Bruce is stranded at ”"ohimobark Hills, 20 miles north of Jask. The machine is badly damaged, but the flyer is unhurt. A rescue party, consisting of the superintendent of the cable office, the Imperial Airways ground engineer, two assistants, and a doctor, left Jask in a sailing vessel to render assistance.

ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

AMERICA TO ENGLAND. VANCOUVER, October 9.

A message from Harbour Grace (Newfoundland) states that Captain Errol Boyd (Canadi-n) and Lieutenant Harold Connor (Un l<><l States), navigator, took off for England in the plane Columbia at 11.20 on Thursday morning.

PLANE SEEN OUT AT SEA. NEW YORK, October 9. The steamer Lancastria reported that it passed the transatlantic plane Columbia 400 miles east of Harbour Grace at 5.40 p.m. (Eastern standard time). TWICE REPORTED. NEW YORK, October 9. With the exception of a message, 95 minutes after the take-off, from the steamer Quaker City reporting -that the Columbia was about 100 miles northeast of Cape Race and flying at an altitude of 200 feet and headed “ true east,” and a message from the Lancastria at 5.40 this evening reporting the sighting of the aeroplane approximately 400 jniles east of Harbour Grace, no other word has been received up to midnight (New York time). It is believed that the machine, averaging 100 miles per hour, should reach London at approximately noon (Greenwich time) on Friday.

JOURNEY COMPLETED. LONDON, October 10,

Captain Errol Boyd and Lieutenant Connor, flying the Columbia from Newfoundland, landed at Tresco, in the Scilly Isles. They are not proceeding to London to-night. The aviators were forced down owing to the discovery that the petrol pipe was choked. The defect was discovered three miles off the Scilly Isles, and the airmen immediately made for the nearest island.

If the trouble had developed five minutes earlier or later they would have crashed into the sea. They landed on the Tresco beach at 4.30 most easily. The Columbia, which was in the air for 24 hours, made good time owing to a following wind. Boyd and Connor will proceed to Croydon to-morrow.

October 11. Captain Boyd and Lieutenant Connor have landed at Croydon.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT POSSIBLE. LONDON, October 11. Captain Boyd and Lieutenant Connor are considering the question of continuing their flight to Australia, and will decide within two days. CRASH IN AFRICA. ESCAPE FROM INJURY. CAPETOWN, October 11. The American millionaire, 'Marshall Field, and his wife, who are spending a leisurely honeymoon flying from England to Kenya, crashed at Nimule, on the Uganda border. The party, who were unhurt, motored to Juba, and hope to resume the flight to-day. EARNINGS OF FRENCH FLIERS. NEW YORK, October 11. The earnings of Captains Coste and Bellonte, who started a transatlantic flight on September 1, will total 100,000 dollars. They are returning home on Friday, having received 50,000 dollars as goodwill for the flight, 25,000 dollars for the Dallas flight, and the remainder for newspaper articles and radio broadcasts. DEATH OF DAVID SMITH. RESULT OF INVESTIGATION. MELBOURNE, October 12. The Air Accidents Investigation Com inittee, reporting on the death of David Smith, states that there was no evidence that Smith was not medically fit, but ne had not taken the precaution to affix a safety belt. The machine was of an experimental type, for which, as it was being flown within a three miles’ radius of the aerodrome, no permission of certificate of airworthiness was necessary.

Dave Smith, who recently attempted a flight to England, was killed at Mascot Aerodrome on September 17. His aeroplane was seen to be in trouble at a height of 300 feet. Smith leaped out and his mangled body wag recovered 50 yards from the spot where the machine crashed in pieces. Smith, who was quite a young man, was trying out a speedy Tiger Moth for an air pageant, and it is believed that he was caught in the engine and hurled out at a height of 300 feet. His body struck and smashed a four-inch beam in an old shed, then crashed to the ground. The machine was buried nearly five feet in a local nursery adjoi’ ing the aerodrome. Smith and Shiers attempted to make a flight to England last March, but were forced down in a rice field near Bankok on April 25, the flight being abandoned. USE OF HELIUM GAS. STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT HOOVER. WASHINGTON, October 10. President Hoover, in a statement today, said that the Government was encouraging the exportation of helium gas for lighter than air craft, rather than hampering it. MISS AROHA CLIFFORD. HOPES TO FLY TO AUSTRALIA. LONDON, October 11 “ I have not secured father’s consent yet, but I hope to leave for Australia before Christmas,” said the New Zea-

lander, Miss Aroha Clifford, who is busy at the Stag Lane Aerodrome, doing an engineering course as part of her training for solo flight.