AIRWOMAN SAFE

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1930, Page 7

AIRWOMAN SAFE

NEWS FROM MRS. MILLER *• ' THRILLING FORCED LANDING STORY FROM THE BAHAMAS PLANE BLOWN OFF COURSE GALE FORCES THE DESCENT By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. New York, Dec. 1. Mrs. Keith Miller, according to a telegram received by her mother, is safe. A later message from Nassau (Bahamas) states that Mrs. Miller, who disappeared while flying from Havana to Florida, arrived thero to-day. She made a thrilling forced landing in a gdle on Friday at Andros Island, in the Bahamas.

Mrs. C. S. Beveridge stated that she had received a telegram from her daughter’ from Nassau saying that she was safe and asking her friends to be notified.

A Nassau agent of Pan-American Airways on Monday night by radio requested fuel for' Mrs. Miller’s plane, which was undamaged. Captain, Lancaster said he would leave early on Tuesday in a chartered plane w’ith a mechanic and fuel.

The story of the forced landing on a barren Bahaman island as related on Monday night by Mrs. Miller was brought to Nassau by a fishing boat from Andros Island, where Mrs. Miller landed on Friday. Mrs. Miller said she ran into a heavy gale shortly after she bopped off. The compass on the plane was at fault and she was blown badly off her course.' The severity of the weather and the lack of gasoline forced her to. land ’ in'the bush five miles back of Kemps Bay on Andros Island. She Walked to Kemp’s Bay, where she was given food and shelter. Commissioner Forsyth at Andros Island helped her to obtain a small boat. The plane was. undamaged and she hopes to fly to Miami on Tuesday. Aviation circles are puzzled as to why Mrs. Miller ended her flight in the Bahamas. The assumption would be that she was blown eastward, but aviators say the winds on Friday blew strongly from the east. Details of the landing are difficult to obtain. Captain Lancaster said at Miami that he had been advised by Mrs. Miller’s mother that she was forced to use the collapsible rubber raft after landing and was picked'up by a fishing boat. The slowness of the craft presumably accounted for the length of time required to get the rescue siory to the world. It is understood Captain Lancaster, who flew to Australia with Mrs. Miller, has been in touch with the Associated Press, whose, officials announce they declined to pay him £4OO for the newspaper rights of Mrs. Miller’s sensational story of the forced landing.