ORGANISATION OF SEARCH

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1934, Page 4

ORGANISATION OF SEARCH

COMPELLED TO AWAIT DAWN AEROPLANES AND FOOT PARTIES. START TO BE MADE AT DAYBREAK. PILOT EXPERIENCED FLIER. Everything possible is being done at New Plymouth to locate the missing men and their plane at the earliest possible moment. Search parties were eager to start immediately the news was received,, but were restrained by the advice of experienced bushmen who know the district in which the machine is believed to have crashed. Those who know the Kaimai range, an offshoot of the Pouakais, are unanimous L ■ the opinion that night search would have been both dangerous and futile in bush country that is among some of the most difficult and densely wooded in the North Island. Organised parties under the supervision of Mr. L. W. Lovell were to assemble at the comer of Currie and Devon Streets at 3.30 o’clock this morning and leave immediately for Kaimiro. Members of the Taranaki Alpine Club, police and friends of the missing . men and residents who have had experience in the bush will participate, but it is not yet possible to determine the strength of the searchers. A start will be made from Kaimiro at 4 o’clock to investigate the mountainous country in which it is thought the aeroplane has crashed. Mr. Lovell will be accompanied- by Constables S. Davis and Strawbridge, Messrs. K. P. Tompkins, W. M. Groombridge, N. Lealand, T. Wright and R. Whitwell (Taranaki Alpine Club), Easton Smith, K. Martin and J. Pankhurst (New Plymouth Aero Club), Henry Weston and D. Atchley. Messrs. Sam Arthur and Roy Sole, guides at North Egmont, and a search party from the Egmont Road . district, will join the main at Kaimiro. AN ABLE AIRMAN. Having logged 172 hours solo flying in four types of machines, Mr. Green is recognised as one of the most experienced and reliable pilots at New Plymouth. He possesses a B (commercial) license and has done a considerable amount of cross-country flying, including twelve flights over the summit of the mountain. This was not the first occasion that he had piloted Mr. Austin for aerial photography, and this was the second flight for the purpose of testing a camera "tted with, the latest imported infra red plate. Mr. Green has no relatives in NewZealand, it is understood. He is a single man aged about 30. His father is an Anglican minister at Norfolk, England. Mr. Green is well-known throughout Taranaki. Some years ago he was employed by the New Plymouth Borough Council in the electricity department. Six years ago he resigned his position and returned to England, where he did some flying with the Norfolk Aero Club. Returning to New Zealand, he completed his training as an aviator with the New Plymouth Aero Club. He is a pilot in the No. 2 Bombing Squadron (Wellington) of the Territorial Reserve of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He ranks as flying-officer, and it is obligatory on him to undertake a ten days annual refresher at Sockbum, Christchurch. Mr. Green is an electrician. He has lately been batching in Sackville Street, Fitzroy, with Mr. D. Atchley, who will be a member of the search party leaving New Plymouth this morning. Mr. Austin, a single man aged about 37, lives with, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Austin, at the comer of Waiwaka Terrace and Mangorei Road, Strandon. He conducts a tobacconist’s and photography business in Devon Street central and is well known. . The ABS machine in which Messrs. Green and Austin set out from the NeW Plymouth airport is a de Havilland Moth with a Gipsy 1 engine and a metal fuselage. It belongs to the Western Federated (North Island) Flying Clubs and had been used by the three constituent flying clubs at New Plymouth, Hawera and Wanganui.