’PLANE OVERDUE.

Wairarapa Age, 9 October 1936, Page 5

’PLANE OVERDUE.

LORD SEMPILL’S MONOSPAR. FEEBLE SOS CALLS. BELIEVED TO COME FROM TIMOR ISLAND. DARWIN, October 8. It is feared that Lord Sempill’a Monospar aeroplane, piloted by Mr. H. Wood, has been forced down on Timor Island, and the Government patrol boat Larrakia has been dispatched in search. The machine took off yesterday from Darwin at 4.50 a.m. local time, and the radio directional station at Darwin heard a weak signal from the aeroplane when it was about 70 miles from the coast of Koepang. After fourteen hours of anxiety, feeble BOS messages were received between 9 and 10 o’clock last night (Darwin time). So faint were the messages that it was difficult to make anything of them except that they were SOS signals. A bearing taken on the directional wireless apparatus at the Royal Australian Air Force Station at Darwin gave their position ns on Timor Island, about 60 lor 70 miles from Koepang. It is assumes that the aeroplane was sending messages from the beach and. that the crew were generating power byhand. The word “batteries’’ was heard in one message, and it is believed that the aeroplane’s batteries are failing. Weak messages were still being received at midnight. Th pilot, Mr. Wood, is accompanied by the designer of the aeroplane, Mr. F. F. Crocombe, an engineer, Mr. L. Davis, and the radio operator, Mr. C. P. Gilroy. The machine left Darwin with a load of 11,300 pounds, chiefly petrol and spare parts. Mr. Wood planned to reach Singapore, 2347 miles from Darwin, yesterday. Before he took off he intimated that he intended to have breakfast at Koepang at about 7.30. SEA SEARCHED. NO TRACE DISCOVERED. KOEPANG, October 8. There is no trace of Lord Sempill’s aeroplane Croydon in the whole of the Timor Sea. The Government boat Merel is on search. DUTCH ’PLANES ASSISTING. (Received Thursday, 8.0 p.m.) KOEPANG, October 8. Two Dutch seaplanes from Sourabaya are taking part in the search for Lord Sempill’s monospar.