AVIATORS’ REPLY

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 9

AVIATORS’ REPLY

FOOLHARDINESS DENIED CONFIDENCE IN MACHINE CANCELLATION OF TICKET REASONS FOR DEFIANCE By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Any suggestion that their flight was foolhardy was repudiated by Whitehead and Nicholl to-day. Both pilots said their machine was of a type in which they had confidence, other Puss Moths having accomplished long and notable flights in many parts of the world. They had prepared it carefully for the journey and were carrying ample fuel to get them across safely. They did not carry wireless because they felt that such equipment would be of little value in cape of a forced landing at sea. Their machine had been granted a certificate of airworthiness, but they had received a telegram from the civil aviation authorities about a week ago cancelling the certificate. This was no doubt due to the fact that they were about to attempt a long ocean flight in a single-eng’ned craft, and because of the heavy load of petrol they were carrying.'

To comply with the regulations as regards load and seating accommodation, however, would have meant reducing the petrol supply to such an extent that they would not have had enough fuel to make the crossing. They preferred to have less space and more petrol in order to be safe. Actually the authorities did not know they were hopping off. A search for the fliers, who were believed to be lost until they arrived unexpectedly at Mangere, was carried out by pilots in three Auckland aeroplanes, two from the Auckland Aero Club’-s headquarters and one from the Hobsonville Air Base. “ARE YOU THE CHAPS?" Two of the club machines which had been to Kaitaia for a pageant on Thursday were flown over various parts of North Auckland this morning by FlightLieutenant Allan and Mr. G. M. Firth, The third machine, with Flight-Lieuten-ant Wallingford at the controls, was flown to New Plymouth and back. None, of the searchers saw any sign of the visitors, although the club machines could not have been far away when the Faith in New Zealand flew down from the north in the early morning. Messrs. Allan and Firth were surprised on returning to Mangere to find that the Puss Moth had landed there little more than an hour before. “Are you the chaps I’ve been looking for all over the country?” was the jocular greeting of Mr. Allan.

“We are sorry we caused concern to anyone; we tried hard to make contact with civilisation but failed and had to put in the night on the beach,” said Whitehead.

The Puss Moth monoplane is believed by the airmen to be one of the first of its type constructed when the model was introduced by the manufacturers in 1920.

Within an hour of the monoplane’s arrival there was a crowd of about 100 gathered round the machine inspecting its equipment and somewhat crude but ingenious fittings. In the cabin the space for two fliers was incredibly small after the clearing of the seating accommodation and the installation of a petrol tank. The machine was seen by several people in North Auckland late on Thursday afternoon but was not recognised on account of the close resemblance it bears to the Auckland Aero Club’s Puss Moth, which was in the same neighbourhood.

Reports received from the north indicate that residents were confused by the fact that the silver Puss Moth from Auckland had been flying in the vicinity of Kaitaia most of the day.

Although nobody saw the machine on the ground in North Auckland it has been established that it landed at East Beach, ' a little south of the Houhora Heads, on the east coast People at Pukenui, 20 miles north of Awanui, reported yesterday that they saw the machine but paid little attention. One party that watched the monoplane included the local postmaster, Mr. A. V. Wagener, but he, like Miss KinanO, postmistress at Houhora, mistook the Faith in New Zealand for the Auckland machine. The house which the fliers attempted to reach after landing is the home of Mr. John Smith, just north of the Motutangi River. Mr. Smith sheltered some of the survivors when the Elingamite .was wrecked on the Three Kings on November 9, 1902. NOT TO BE RECOGNISED DECISION OF THE AERO CLUB. CRITICISM BY THE MEMBERS.

Wellington, Last Night.

“We applaud their courage but we did not applaud their foolhardines under the conditions that operated,” said Mr. H. L. Patterson (Otago) at xhe annual meeting of the New Zealand Aero Club to-day, referring to the Tasman flight of Whitehead and Nicholl. “Tragedy would have meant that the flight would have been a discouragement to clubs and flying in New Zealand, and would cloud the public mind as to the safety of flying.” He said it would create a feeling that pilots were hair-brained or light-headed, and that the Government was not keeping adequate control on flying. Mr. P. R. Climie, Christchurch, said he had been criticised for his views on Tasman flying, but he had never had anything in his mind so ill-conceived and foolish as the flight which had just taken place. Mr. W: L. Free (Wairarapa) remarked that it was customary for clubs to fete Tasman fliers or aviators of note, but in this case the airmen had left without a certificate of airworthiness and he suggested the clubs should not give any reception to them. Mr. G. M. Spence agreed and said the clubs should not take any steps to recognise the flight. “When I heard of this flight, this afternoon I was amazed,” he said. “I was shocked that these two men should risk their lives and be so callous to all the anxiety they caused.” Mr. T. E. O’Dowd (Hawke’s Bay) said they were “going a bit far” in naming the two pilots. Guy Menzies had also flown the Tasman in a single-engined machine.

A voice: He had a certificate of airworthiness!

Mr. Spence: These men have broken the law. On the motion of Mr. Free, seconded by Sir Bruce Stuart (Canterbury), it was decided “That this club discountenances recognition -of any flights made in contravention 1 of the law.”