WRECK FOUND

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1934, Page 9

WRECK FOUND

PARTIES LEAVE AT DAWN HARDSHIPS OF THE JOURNEY GORGES AND DENSE TIMBER SCENE OF DESTRUCTION RECOVERY' OF THE BODIES With the first grey of dawn scarcely shown, the searchers from Kaimiro set out over tire swampy land between the road head and standing timber to seek the missing aeroplane. The rendezvous had been kept promptly, the New Plymouth cars making an almost constant procession from a few minutes before the appointed hour, 4 o’clock. Pressmen who had spent a chilly night waiting for news, and the hours between 1 o’clock and 3.30 at the toll gate lodge, had already arrived. Shortly afterwards the.party was completed by the arrival of Taranaki Alpine Club members in a truck from North Egmont House, where they had spent the night, but a start was delayed because there was not even a glimmering of light in the east and necessary details of organisation must be discussed. With, the first three miles of rough, swampy track to be traversed before actual directions could be obtained at the trappers’ camp, a start was made with the aid of electric torches. The morning was bitterly cold, heavy frost having fallen. On higher ground the swamp was frozen and members of the party tramped through gelid puddles ankle deep. Despite a fast start the track was so difficult in the half-light that the three-mile journey to Mr, Burrows’ tent occupied nearly two hours. In dense patches of timber even the experienced guides who led had the utmost difficulty in keeping to the track, With dawn proper ominous clouds began to form over the mountain aind for a time it seemed likely that the developing conditions would prohibit aerial search, but by 8 o’clock the clouds had disappeared, the first planes from Hawera and Wanganui having made, their preliminary circuits of the area for first examination. WAIWAKAIHO GORGE CROSSED. After a brief halt for rest and discussion at the camp the party continued, tentatively agreeing to establish a base further on when the area for search had actually been viewed from a vantage point on the high ridges. The Waiwakaiho Gorge was crossed comparatively high, where the steep and greasy clay banks gave the first indication of the severe difficulties to be met later. Above 3000 feet patches of snow still lingered after last week’s heavy fall and made footholds treacherous.

Overlooking the Kauauai stream the halt for initial dispersal was made and. the vouchsafed glimpse of the high ranges where the search was to concentrate at last showed what natural obstacles the searchers would have to surmount. Between the look-out and the high ridge where the plane had disappeared was a maze of deeply canyoned streams. Tangled mountain growth and giant ratas and tawas at last brought realisation that the search might go on for weeks without success if the planes were to fail. The pre-arranged code of signals was that .gunfire was to recall foot parties to their bases, a smoky fire was to indicate to the planes the position of the lost aeroplane if located, and the planes were to indicate success to foot parties by constant circling over the position. The only weakness indicated by experience was that the top growth of trees was so heavy that it was practically impossible to “spot” the planes when moving, so that judgment would have to be made in most instances by the sound of their motors alone.

At the look-out on the ridge the party of bushmen comprising Messrs. G. Burrows, N. P. Gibson, R. Hudson, J. W. Cash, L. Butler, W. Robinson, E. Clerke, H. Shoemark, Roy Sole, S. Arthur and Constable Davis made off by the direct and difficult route, while the remaining 21 members, including Messrs. Gray and Thorpe, returned under Mr. R. Burrows to cross the stream some miles lower down on a side ridge. DIVISION OF PARTY. When the stream had been passed a further division was made, a small party being detailed to examine the further side of a tributary stream, reaching it by way of a precipitous dirtstone cliff and a traverse of overhung gorge on the further side. Eventually a crossing was made a considerable distance downstream, and the opposing ridge was climbed. By good fortune the outlook on the main ridge where the plane was believed to have crashed was excellent, and the small party again subdivided to examine the opposing faces. In the meantime the larger party had traversed the ridge on the north western side of the Kauauai and met portion of the original party of men familiar with the country, and not long after leaving them heard the shouts which announced the finding of the plane. The smaller party, however, was nearer the scene of the discovery, and reached it five minutes later.

At first sight it was difficult to realise that the few shattered splinters of timber and strips of tom fabric to be seen were actually part of a crashed aeroplane. Behind the butt of a tawa tree was the centre portion of the fusilage, under which were the bodies of the aviators. The engine lay in a shattered heap a dozen feet to one side, the splintered bases of the propeller still adhering to the shaft.

The plane had been flying, apparently, from south-west to north-east, and instead of flying into a slope as is usual in aviation accidents of the sort, had dived into rather than against the slope of the steep hillside. High up on a rata tree 40 feet away hung portions of the fusilage fabric and a portion of one wing. Further back still—approximately 60 yards—a wing tip adhered to a slender sapling which had been broken off where the plane first hit the timber. The rata which had borne the full brunt of the terrific impact was a tremendous tree, but one limb had been stripped and the trunk scored into the heartwood. Twisted scraps of metal, fabric and splinters of woodwork littered the ground for 50 yards in every direction. The strong odour of petrol sprayed over ground and foliage would seem to discount any theory that the flyers had run out of fuel. A smudge fire was lit and the persistent circling of Flying Officer lan Keith in ZK-ACZ indicated that the signal had been interpreted. One hour and twenty minutes later the assembled searchers began the trip out, meeting the most exhausting part of an exhausting day. Two halts only were made, drizzling rainfall and the likelihood of rapidly rising rivers adding to the discomfort of the dispirited searchers, who had eagerly discussed plans for evacuating the flyers had they been discovered to have escaped with injury. Shortly before 4 o’clock the vanguard arrived at the road where members of the Aero Club were waiting. The first news had been brought out by Mr. S. Anchor, who had made a fast trip in advance of the main party, reaching the road before 3 o’clock,