A THRILLING STORY

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10907, 7 August 1928, Page 3

A THRILLING STORY

COURTNEY’S ADVENTURE AEROPLANE CAUGHT FIRE. United Press Assn —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, August 3. A copyright message gives Captain ’own story aboard tne Minnewaska. He states: “Our ’i>lane caught fire abruptly

and nearly tragically ended our flight. I decided after leaving Horta on the Ist of August to fly a southerly course in order to put headwinds abeam as we finisheij the trip, pecting to arrive at Newfoundland in seventeen hours. After flying thiee hours the moiiu rose, cloud-blanket-ed The crew were comfortably stowed. Hugh Gilmour, our wireless operator, ascertained from steamers that the direction of the wind differed from the forecast. I, white iecalculating our course, lost sight or the moon and sky. We ran mto a blinding rainstorm and hit many ferocious bumps, though the engines were running admirably, carburation was perfect and the instruments accurate. The rain stopped for two hours but we were still flying blind at 1300 feet. We climbed to inspect the upper side of the clouds a't 3500 feet. This was too high to encounter adverse winds. We descended below the clouds to 1000 feet. It was too dark to see the water. Ihe clouds broke at 2.15 in the morning and we glimpsed the moon and climbed to 1500 MOST HORRIBLE SIGHT. “I was discussing tlie engines with the mechanic, Fred Pierce, when i saw the most horrible Slight or my flying career. , The cheery exhaust flame behind suddenly changed to a dull, red glow. I wa,s stunned to see the rear engine enveloped m flames stretching put like a giant blowlamp rearwards over El wood Hosmei .. seat and beyond'the rudder tail. Ihe machine in the darkness must nave resembled a grotesque red comet. The situation seemed a nightmare It did not occur to me that we could reach the water before tne tad burned. My subsequent actions merely blindly followed my piloting snstin ct, which possibly saved us. Pierce rushed into the engine room and turned off the petrol. J hree seconds later it would have been too la'te. I cut off dll switches, threw the machine into a headlong dive through the blackness with the vague idea of burning up. the escaped petrol if Pierce should have railed to turn off the cocks.

SAFE LANDING ON WAVES. “The dive shot Gilmour from his seat As I drew out of the dive with the burning seaplane overloaded one ton, I saw the glow reflected on the wavecrests and managed to put the machine on one crest and ran down the hill of water, up the next, just preventing the seaplane shooting into the air off the crest. The machine after several jolts came to rest without damage. Pierce, during the descent, amazingly succeeded m turning off the cocks, applying the fire extinguisher inside the engine room and greatly diminishing the flames, the remainder of which instead of streaming out behind, burned directly over the opening m the hull containing six hundred gallons of petrol. The fire extinguisher was, exhausted. The flames burned fiercely for a quarter of an hour vyhile we four steed awaiting the final explosion which never came. \Y hen the flames subsided we erected boat hooks to support the emergency wireless. Gilmour sent S.O.S. ca j ,s ; but received no reply. Me decided to conserve our batteries by awaiting daybreak. When the engine room cooled we found that tbe petrol pipe had broken causing the petrol under pressure to be forced against the engine near the exhaust. The breakage as it developed must have caused the accumulation of petrol to give a good send off to the fumes when they reached the exhaust. The metal engine mounting burned through like purer. If the machine had not been metal it would not have survived five minutes. S.O.S. CALLS ANSWERED. “Gilmo'ur resumed S.O.S. calls at daybreak. The steamer Cedric answered and I checked our position, but by the time an accurate estimat© was sent we had drifted tniirty miles. The batteries gradually ran out as the liner searched. VV e knew our position was serious and put oui last power into directional signals to, the Minnewaska We tried smoke signals and nearly reigmted the machine. We waited dejectedly and seasick owing to the continual rolling. Gilmour announced casually ship sEdited.’ I called him a liar and looked. I saw the finest, sight I have ever seen, the Minnewaska steaming towards us. . “1 have failed again to fly across the Atlantic, but l am not disheartened as failure proves niy point bet ter than success. I have always insisted that a seaworthy machine and efficient wireless are essential to successful ocean flights. These principles saved our lives in about us baa a situation as aviators ever were m. The “Daily Mail” says that Captain Courtney’s rescue calls attention to the expenses entailed shipping comoanieM whose vessels responded to his S.O.S. Several liners had to quit their course and rush to liis assistance, the efforts of all not ,one necessarily vain. The aggregate cost thereof was probably between ,£7OOO and £IO,OOO. . ~ . A shipping official points out that while vessels are always ready to answer distress messages from ships, Atlantic fliers are in a different category, inasmuch as they staid out knowing thev will be lionised if successful ; but they do not consider the expense caused if anything goes wrong.