GRIM FIGHT WITH STORM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 331, 17 April 1928, Page 9

GRIM FIGHT WITH STORM

Airmen’s Dramatic Story HELPERS SPEEDING TO THEM

THE three flyers of the Bremen tell a dramatic story of their battle with the elements as they neared the Canadian coast—a struggle so grim that after landing they stepped from their plane haggard and gaunt. Major Pitzmaurice was, in latest reports, on his way to Ottawa in the Canadian plane which was sent to Greenley Island. The Germans stayed behind.

(United P. A.—By Telegraph — Copyright.) (Australian Press Association)

Reed. 9.5 a.m. NEW YORK, Monday. y~)ISPATCHES from Montreal state that a message received there at 10.30 p.m. on Sunday from Point Armour, at the southern extremity of Labrador, announced that a Canadian airplane, carrying Messrs. Louis Cuisinier and Duke Schiller, had arrived at Greenley Island, where the German monoplane Bremen made a forced landing after her flight across the Atlantic from Ireland. A late message from Murray Bay, Quebec, says Schiller . left Greenley Island with Major Pitzmaurice in the Fairchild plane sent by the Canadian Government. They started in-, adverse weather conditions, but, with the forecast out at sea being more favourable, they planned to proceed either to Father Point or Quebec, this depending on the weather encountered in the meantime. The Germans remained behind for the purpose of superintending repair work on the Bremen. Miss Herta Junkers, daughter of the Bremen’s manufacturer, has prepared to fly in a sister-ship of the Bremen to Montreal, and there to lay plans for a rescue expedition to Greenley Island. She will be accompanied by Mr. Fred Melchoir, chief pilot of the Junkers Company in America, and a mechanic. She received a message from Baron Huehnefeld asking for benzol, new propellers, and spare parts. Landing gear has already been dispatched, and will be picked up by the relief expedition at Montreal. In the meantime, Roy Brown, the Canadian airman who killed the famous German ace Von Richtofen, Is preparing to leave for Greenley in a four-seater plane. A later message says Miss Junkers left for Montreal, accompanied by her brother Erhardt, In addition to those previously named. They will await word there from Greenley Island.

at Greenley Island has made possible the disclosure of very brief facts concerning the harrowing experiences of the three flyers in the Bremen.

They were beginning to lose all sense of direction, not even knowing whether they were progressing westward or out toward the middle of the Atlantic.

Miss Junkers said: “We will carry 100 gallons of benzol for the Bremen. Our principal purpose is to have Fl 3, the sister-ship, as close to the Bremen as possible, so that any part needed can be sent to Greenley Island. That applies particularly to the propeller now being used on Fl 3, which is the only one we seem able to locate to serve efficiently on the Bremen.”

The details so far to hand are terse and unadorned, but the amazing story stands out even more clearly as a result. It is now determined that the Bremen was 38 hours in the air. Fog proved an enemy which nearly brought disaster, but curiously enough the blanket of impenetrable mist into which the monoplane first plunged as it drew near to Newfoundland dispersed so quickly that the flyers congratulated themselves. Night -was just coming on and they confidently expected to be able to determine their whereabouts, as the air was clear, but again they, leaped into a layer of thick fog and were lost.. Then began trouble with the compass because the airmen were approaching a magnetic field which has often proved dangerous to aviators. At that stage snow began to fall and a high wind helped to make the weather extremely thick. The snow alternated with sleet and the flyers were ready to give up hope, especially as their benzine was running low.

They determined to continue as long as the machine could be kept aloft. They then came to the conclusion that they had reached land but they could not make out any contours oJPUhe terrain and it was impossible to get their bearings. The flyers pressed on throughout the night. It seemed to them at times that the plane was standing still or under the control of the wind and not of the engine. It was not until 5.25 p.m. on Friday that they were able to see that they were passing over a lake in a small island. Then they determined to land. The machine was equipped with wheel gear and it threshed down upon the ice with great force, smashing through it and slightly damaging the tail of the plane, but the aviators were not injured. Probably one of the most barren spots in the world, Greenley Island, with its lighthouse and its half-a-dozen fisherfolk huts, seemed a welcome place in spite of its inhospitable appearance. From information gathered from the inhabitants who first greeted the 'flyers—who had dropped out of the air like ancient magicians, but under circumstances unimagined even in the most fanciful fiction—it is clear that the flyers were haggard and gaunt from their straining flight.