Moth Makes Epic Flight.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18587, 12 October 1928, Page 1

Moth Makes Epic Flight.

WIND FORCES ’PLANE DOWN NEAR THE SEA

MR MILL’S TRIP SOUTH LAST WEDNESDAY WAS LONG FIGHT WITH GALE

The bare announcement in Wednesday’s “Star” that Mr Douglas Mill took three hours and ten minutes to reach Christchurch from Blenheim in his D.H. Moth, and that it was a very rough trip, gave little indication of the real difficulties encountered. Mr Mill originallly intended to leave Blenheim in the early morning, but waiting for the two Bristols which were supposed to come south with the Tasman flyers, made it 10.45 before he got off. There was then a fairly strong nor’-wester blowing, and the machine had not been long in the air before her pilot realised that he was in for a rough time. Through the pass over which the railway runs south of Blenheim, and I over which the air route south _ also passes, conditions were not startlingly bad, but off the mouth of the Ure River, a sheet of wind-blown spray at sea, about ten miles long, gave a striking warning of what was to come. Whistling down the funnel formed by the Ure Valley, the wind as sumed hurricane force, and blew the little Moth right down almost on to the sea. Here Mr Mill began to fear that a gust would turn the ’plane over, and he knew he would have no chance of righting her before he crashed. The airman tried hard to make height, but the gale kept him down too close to be comfortable. Smoke blowing from the Kaikoura bush fires showed the wind to be south-west round Mount Fyffe, but the nor’-west sky puzzled Mr Mill. Round these mountains the gale blew from all westerly directions and, in the bay south of the Kaikoura Peninsula, even from due south.

With the object of passing over the Amuri Bhiff, which is only a few hundred feet high, Mr Mill tried to make height again. He succeeded in getting well up and felt more easy, but when, he got to the Bluff the wind again forced him down, and' he eventually had to fly round it. As the Bluff is not more than three hunched feet , high, some idea may be gained of how close to the sea he was. All down the coast the wind <Jer bouched from gullies and the mouths of rivers with terrific force. Nearing the Waiau River, Mr Mill determined to fly through the two ridges at the mouth, with the idea of getting more settled air over the plains inland. Turning in, he made for the hills, and got enough height to clear the ridge by about 400 feet. When he was nearing the funnel the wind was so strong that at times the ’plane was actually going backwards. The Moth battled forward, but when about 100 yards from the ridge, Mr Mill saw the tussocks flattened straight downhill by the force of the gale and realised he did not have enough height to get over to the plains. He put the Moth into a vertical bank, almost touching with his wheels the ridge on the south side of the river round which the Waiau runs in an “S ” curve. Almost in a flash, the ’plane was blown five miles out to sea. Then He Took a Rest. Right down to Sockburn the flight continued to be a battle with the wind, but conditions improved a little and the ’plane climbed to 5000 feet, where Mr Mill was able to take the rest whic' he sorely needed. After this flight, Mr Mill is convinced that under similar conditions, a club-trained pilot would be very severely frightened, possibly so much so that he would crash himself. Mr Mill considers that all amateur pilots should be warned against attempting the coast flight in strong westerly weather. That he was frightened at times, Mr Mill frankly admitted, but he knew the Moth would stand up to it, and he had no fears on that score. It was perhaps the roughest trip he has ever made.