THE LOST AIRMAN

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 187, 16 August 1935, Page 2

THE LOST AIRMAN

Efforts of Aviators t LONG DISTANCE FLOWN SOME ASTONISHING FACTS An estimated aggregate distance of 35,000 miles, which is equal to one and a half times the circumference of the world iat the Equator, was flown by •the twenty machines and thirty-two .pilots engaged in the search for Mr Hamish Armstrong, the Hawke’s Bay airman who was lost on the Ruahine ranges on July 21. In addition the aeroplanes used 2002 gallons of petrol, besides a large quantity of oil. i The total area over which the search ' by aeroplanes was conducted was 9000 square miles. Though so many machines were engaged, and although the weather on almost every day of the search, which

was conducted over country of the very wildest and roughest character, was misty and wet. and although the pilots engaged va.ni.ed considerably in experience, there was not even the slightest

mishap to machines or personnel. All but two of the machines were singleengined.

A report prepared for the Director of Air Services by Flight-Lieutenant A. G. Gerrand, pilot instructor to tho Hawke’s Bay Aero Club, is an astonishing piece of work. It consists of thirty-two foolscap pages closely typed, and every fact, however 'trivial it might appear to the uninformed layman, is carefully and clearly set out. Besides the typescript there are included in the official copy of the report a number of splendid photographs showing the machines in flight over the ranges and elsewhere, and graphically portraying the roughness of the country over which so great a distance was flown. Also there are several large scale maps of the North Island, with each section of the flights days exactly outlined. The report states that after Mr Armstrong’s aeroplane had been found near the top of the Ruahine ranges, one pilot several times led two others, each flying separately, over the spot where the wreckage was lying, yet although the two pilots who were being guided knew what they were seeking, and although both knew where the aeroplane was lying, neither of them saw it. The point of this observation, as worded in Mr Gerrand’s report, is that because of the snow .that covered it, and also because of its green and silver colouring, it would have been the greatest luck if the wreckage had been, seen from the air during the search, especially when it is remembered that throughout the whole time the taps of the ranges were covered either with mist or lowlying cloud, and that on several days there was heavy rain to add to the diffieulties of observation.

How Pilot Was Lost A further interesting comment is that Mr Armstrong quite probably altered his course to go out to sen so that he could follow the coast-line, but that he failed to reach the coast owing to a westerly drift. If that is so. it would account for his having been

heard over Puketitiri. as several quite credible reports stated. There was a wind of from. 30 to 35 miles an hour at an altitude of 4000 feet on the day when Mr Armstrong was lost, but hardly any ground wind.

The pilot was comipclled to fly between two layers of cloud, and owing to the cloud below him he would not have observed that he was making a. westerly drift. His direction roughly would be north after he had tried to

get away from the clouds, and a continuance of a true course, as shown by his compass, would have taken him to (the coast. The drift to the west carried him over land instead of over the sea. Mr Gerrand advances the

suggestion that the machine flew on to Puketitiri, and that the pilot, not seeing the coast, then turned back, and at last crashed on the Ruahines.

On this point the report says: "Hv would be forced to fly (along valleys under clouds. He would not attempt to climb out through the clouds because- he would see steep mountains on either side- of him. It is poss’ble that he followed various valleys undfr these conditions until he crashed near Maropea Peak.” Airmen’s Modesty There are some things that are not mentioned, and among them -are the services of the pilots themselves, the risks that they ran, or the discomforts that they suffered. ) The machines engaged were three I R.N.’Z. Air Force Moths; two Moths and a Desoutter from the Hawke’s Bay Aero Clnb; Mr Stanley White’s Moth, 1 in which Mr White flew from England .to Australia; two Moths from the i Wairaraph Aero Club; three Moths | and a Waco from the Wellington Ae"O

Club; two Moths from the Manawatu Aero Club; two Moths from the Auckland Aero Club; one Moth from 'he Western Federated Aero Club; and ■two D.H. Dragons from the East Coast Airways Ltd. Of the total flying time of 394 hours 20 minutes, the following pilots shared the greater part. —Flight-Lieut. Bu*kley, 29hrs. 15 mins.; Mr S. G. White, 25hrs. 45mins.; Mr Buekeridge 25hrs. 30mins.; Flight-Lieut. Gerrand, 24 hrs. 55 mins.; Mr Duthie, 22hrs. smins.; Flight-Lieut. Burrell, 19hrs.; Mr D. M. Alland, 18hrs. 50mins.; Mr R. M. Field, 17hrs 50 mins.; Flying Officer G. B. White, 17hrs. 35mins.; Mr J. Bawnsley, 17hrs. 30mins.; M.r H. Lett, 16hrs. 40min.; Flying-Officer Cohen, 15hrs. 25mins.; Mr A. E. Barker, 17hrs.; Squadron-Leader G. L. Stedman, 14hrs. 5 mins.; Flying-Officer Lester, 13hrs. 40 mins.; Mr K. Smithy 12hrs. 25mins.