MISSING AIRMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18879, 3 December 1935, Page 6

MISSING AIRMEN

SIR KINGSFORD SMITH 'ONE CHANCE IN HUNDRED' OPINION OF MR. B. SHIEL "There is still one chance in a hundred that Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Tom Pethybridge are alive," said Mr B. Shiel, 'business associate to. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, when he landed at Auckland on Friday. Mr Shiel has travelled from England via the United States, and he was in NewYork when the first report came through that the two flyers were missing. He displayed considerable anxiety a'bout the fate of the two men, both of whom he knew very well, but is reluctant to give up hope on account of his faith in their ability and resource.

"If Sir Charles managed to sight land in his flight over the Bay of Bengal, I think he would be able to bring his aeroplane down safely in some manner or other," Mr Shiel continued. "There were sufficient emergency rations in the monoplane to keep them alive for three weeks. I placed the compact bundle of food in the machine myself. I believe that if the supplywas eaten sparingly, it would last out nearly five weeks. They .should have no difficulty in getting enough water in that part of the world. "One fact can be relied upon, and that is that if the aeroplane is found Sir Charles and Tom will be nearby. He knew too well the danger of straying away, and perhaps wandering aimlessly about not far off when searchers had located the machine. This has been shown in cases of previous rescues, where the occupants.have died because they wandered oft" in goodness knows what direction. When Sir Charles made the emergency landing in northwestern Australia, he would not allow the crew out of sight of the Southern Cross." It was realised that the best chance "of rescue now would be by means of search parties scouring the jungle districts, Mr. Shiel stated. One could easily understand that first-hand information would be slow in filtering through - the isolated districts. There was an extensive area to be covered, and it would be a tedious process.

"When Sir Charles met with difficult weather conditions on his unsuccessful attempt, he made a landing at Brindisi which proved that his judgment was as good as ever," Mr Shiel said. "It was a jet black night, with sheets of rain, and Sir Charles had to circle the town for a quarter of an hour before anyone started to act. Four cars went to the aerodrome, their headlights shining across* the ground. He glided in, but the headlights were pointing down-wind, and he only avoided smashing the aeroplane by a brilliant ' ground-loop' at the right moment before hitting the fence. "At the time he left England, Sir Charles was quite fit iii spite of a severe attack of influenza,". Mr Shiel remarked. "I have no doubt.that he was in good enough form for the strenuous flight. My hopes are that he and Tom Pethybridge have still a fighting chance."