MISSING AIRMAN

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19648, 7 August 1935, Page 8

MISSING AIRMAN

SEARCH WITH DOG. PREVIOUS TRACKING SUCCESS. PARTY EQUIPPED FOR LONG STAY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) HASTINGS, Tuesday. Described as an official'search party, four men left for the Rualiine ranges from Whakarara this morning to continue the search for Mr Harnish Armstrong.. The'party took with them a dog which, achieved some fame a few months ago when it was used with success to track two young women who had been lost in the hush on hills near Dannevirke. The men who left this morning are fully equipped to remain on the ranges for at least ten days, and they will actually stay there if necessary, so long as the weather does not make a continuance of the impossible. To-morrow morning another search party on Toot will supplement the searchers who are on the lulls to-day, and it is reported that in addition there is apparently another party already on the ranges. It is assumed that the other searchers have gone out independently. There was a heavy mist hanging •over the ranges this afternoon but the weather-appeared to be clearing. Apparently, it has not yet been decided wTiether the.search parties, which it is proposed to .send into the mountains from either side to conduct a search in co-operation with aeroplanes, will set out to-morrow. A decision in the matter will probably bo made this evening. OPINION OF EXPERTS. ' UNINJURED AT LANDING. \ SAFETY STRAPS UNDONE. SERIES OF SIGNALS ARRANGED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) HASTINGS, Tuesday. Flying experts are of the opinion that Mr Armstrong was strapped in when the aeroplane landed, and tlie fact that the safety straps were undone when the machine' was found shows that he was uninjured, at least to the extent of being able to unstrap himself and get'out of his machine. If Mr. Armstrong had not been strapped in the straps would have got, in the way of the controls. Aviators are •convinced also that Mr Armstrong had plenty of petrol to carry him 'far over the ranges. The presence of a tuft •of grass adhering to the tail skid, as described by one party who saw the machine on Sunday, is probably accounted for by the fact that it was dragged out of the ground when Mr Armstrong took off at Akitio. The petrol tank was fractured and contained no petrol. The general opinion of the search party 'is that Mr Armstrong was able to walk and wandered away in the hope of finding some habitation, or*at least a way out of the hills. It has been suggested that he*might have set fire to the machine as a signal, but it is likely that if the notion occurred tb him after he had wandered away he was unable to pul it into execution owing to the gathering mists that made it impossible for-him to find his way back to the aeroplane. The following signal's have been arranged as a .system of inter-communi-cation between the ground parties and any aircraft that may be assisting themlf Mr Armstrong is found alive, three fires are to be lit in a line from east to west; if he is not alive when found, three fires in a line from north to south. Small parachutes will- be dropped to indicate that all ground parties are to return to their bases.