SEARCHERS AMAZED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 638, 15 April 1929, Page 1

SEARCHERS AMAZED

NO SIGNALS FROM THE CASTAWAYS AIRPLANES FLEW OVER SYDNEY, Sunday. Messages from Derby state that the pilots of the West Australian Airways are astonished that the stranded men did not signal to any of them, as all had flown several times over the spot where the Southern Cross landed. Captain Chater, one of the pilots in Question, says he flew five times over the locality chasing native smoke signals. However, a landing was impossible there and he could not obtain the natives’ news. Mr. Shadforth, who is in charge of the mission schooner, says he was at Port George IV. mission on the day the Southern Cross circled ove.rhead and dropped a note. He received directions from the mission and flew off over the ranges. The day was clear. It would have been an awkward proposition for the crew of the Southern Cross to walk to the mission across the ranges, said Mr. Shadforth. On the other hand, Mr. Pauli, formerly for many years manager of the mission, says be knows the country thoroughly, and if the airmen had done so they could easily have walked to the mission in one day. Mr. Pauli thinks the stranded men could hear the Sydney wireless and knew the rescue machines were searching for them, and considered it best to stay by the machine.