Party Arrives At Bush Line

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 October 1948, Page 6

Party Arrives At Bush Line

Plane Likely To Be Reached At 8 O'Ciock This Morning OHAKUNE, Last Night (Staff Reporter).—The advance party of rescuers for the Electra arrived at the hush line between Lake Surprise and Cascade Rails at 6.30 p.m. today, and signalled their arrival with the tiring- of pyrotechnics, which were clearly visible from Ohakune.

This party, which will move on at dawn tomorrow, consists of 48 civilians.

Senior-Sergeant Taylor (Taumarunui), is in charge of the party, and it includes Constables Munro (Taumarunui), Beaton (Raetihi), Garden and Adsett (Ohakune), and a number of Army personnel. The civilian party is under the direction of Mr. Tom Shout, of Raetihi, warden of National Park and president of the Tongariro Tramping Club, and Mr. S. Mace, chief guide at the Chateau. The Army personnel are equipped with “walkie talkie” radio transmitting and receiving set, and are in touch with the base. The party reported its arrival at the bushline by radio also.

Tomorrow morning a party of engineers from National Airways will climb to the Electra to carry out an inspection of its equipment, etc. They will leave the Horopito base at six o’clock and will be led by a constable from National Park. The party, which arrived at the bushline tonight, will take about three hours to climb to the wreckage of the Electra. They will leave about 5 a.m., so that they should arrive there about 8 a.m. SUPPLIES LOCATED. Tonight they reported that they had located some ol the supplies dropped oy three Harvard aircraft from Ohakea this afternoon. Tomorrow morning the aircraft will drop them food by parachute, and stretchers, blankets, and other emergency gear will be parachuted from planes. It is also understood that aircraft will drop some • form of pyrotechnic markers to guide the party to the plane. A party of 34, comprising police from Wanganui and Palmerston North, civilians, and Air Force personnel are camped tonight at the bush hut at the end of Cowern’s tramline, at Horopito. They will leave at dawn for the plane. ,The snow on Ruapehu today was soft, according to a constable from National Park, who was above the snowline at the Chateau during the morning. He told a “Chronicle” reporter tonight that at times he was up to his waist in the snow. It was apparent from Horopito today that’ the snow was soft, because it was being blown by a strong wind. In order to cope with the heavy volume of telegraphic traffic, including press messages, the P. and T. Department installed a Creed teleprinter in Ohakune Post Office to replace the ordinary Morse key. The party left Wellington at 2.30 p.m. with the equipment and arrived at Ohakune at 8.20 p.m. At 8.45 p.m. the machine was operating traffic to Wanganui and Wellington at a speed of 66 words a minute. The exchange at Ohakune was busy yesterday, and an extra operator was on duty tonight to handle the large volume of calls. Mr. R. L. Horn (chief postmaster at Wanganui) is in charge of communications at Ohakune. , The wreckage, although visible today, was covered with snow earlier and thus was not visible. Tonight it was stated that there was a good possibility of the party returning to Horopito late tomorrow afternoon if the snow conditions were good. Tonight the sky is clear, with a strong westerly wind, but a change is expected in the next 24 hours. Consequently, the party of rescuers is making all possible speed to get to the plane before there is rain, or further snow. This morning, Wing Commander R. C. Keane, of the Air Department, chief investigating officer of air accidents, flew over the wreckage and . pinpointed it on the map for the gixmd party. WHERE THE CRASH CAME. From the position of the wreckage it would appear that the Electra must have struck an outcrop at the head of a ravine above Cascade Falls, on the western slope of the mountain. The actual location of the wreck is below a ridge between the Manganui-a-te-ao and the Mangaturuturu streams, about 2000 ft. from the head of the Mangaturuturu Glacier. As far as can be ascertained the aircraft" appears to have been completely wrecked. The wreckis in heavy snow and it is thought that there would be no survivors. Arrangements were made for an. aircraft from Ohakea to ring the

area where the aircraft is located with orange Hares; which snow up well against the snow. The chief recognisaole portion of the aircraft was the twin tail assembly, which is reported to be sticking up in the air. Ruapehu at this time of the year usually has only a liiffit coating of snow near the top, but the unseasonable weather at the time of the disappearance of the Electra and since then has resulted m the snowline being much lower than usual in October. Local residents report that the weather last week in the region ol the mountain was extremely bad, and that on the day tne aircraft disappeared conditions for flying were terrible. Several people, with extensive knowledge of the mountain, gave a reporter a description of the rapidity with which the weather can change on the mountain—of the cold blizzards, which tear through the warmest clothing, almost burning exposed flesh, and of the thunder and lightning. They believe that if the occupants of the plane escaped without injury they would be unable to weather the cold without adequate protection and nourishment. The general feeling was that any survivors would be fortunate to stand un to the conditions on the mountain. This afternoon, Mr. H. C. Walker, senior pilot of National Airways, arrived at Ohakune and visited the operations base ai Horopito.

The topography Of The Mountain

Founder of the Ruapehu Ski Club in 1914, Mr. W. P. Mead, of Castlecliff, and formerly of Raetihi and National Park, referring last night to the locality where the plane has been located, said the bottom of the glacier is in two tongues, with a rock ridge in between. The streams from the two tongues flow over rapids and waterfalls into deep gorges about 500 feet below. The northern side, said Mr. Mead, is lin’ed with lofty cliffs which could cnly be climbed by experienced mountaineers. He expressed the opinion that the search party from Lake Surprise would be faced with a difficult route on the north side of the stream, if the plane is in the bottom of the valley, but the route is easy if the plane is on the top of the cliff. On the south side of the stream there are a number of streams which are situated in difficult country. Mr. Mead said that where another search party was approaching , from Ohakune there is an easy route leading high up to what is known as “The Cataracts.” This can be taken into the north branch, or to the foot of the glacier. A crossing can be made to the north side without difficulty, Mr. Mead added.