FLY TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1928, Page 5

FLY TRAGEDY

AIcDONALD’S FATE

INDICATIONS OF AN EXPLOSION

(United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—-Copyright.')

LONDON., Oct. 19.

A message which may explain the fate of MacDonald/’the airman, who attempted to fly from Newfoundland to Britain, is issued by .Lloyd’s. It was picked up by the Port I head Wireless Station from the steamer Firacli, via the steamer Schenectady Caledonia. The Firach ; sighted om October 17th. at i 1.30 o’clock, at a big distane, lights most probably resembling an explosion. It is significant that the bearings given correspond very closely with the position where MacDonald was sighted by the Hardenburgh. The time was also similar.

HOPE BANISHED

HIS WIFE’S ORDEAL.

LONDON, Oct. 20. An extraordinary degree of hope for the Atlant n flyer, MacDonald’s safety has been more or less banished by the receipt of the Lloyd’s wireless message. - . ! \ . ■: It now seems certain that the airman was forced down soon after passing the Dutch steamer. > The lights referred to may have

been the explosion of the plane’s con-

tact with the water; or an attempt to /• attract the attention of vessels which ■ ' MacDonald realised were in the vici- ' nity. ’’ v

There is universal sympathy with his wife, whose courage was equal to that of her husband. Late to-night, when the position xvas desperate’ she said that o,she still had hopes that he may land somewhere. She .spent practically a sleepless 48 hours, hut broke down to-day, and slept fitfully for a few hours.

Curiously enough, the same hope was expressed by the aviator Branekner who said: “I still have hopes that he may be somewhere in Norway or thereabouts.” He added that, before the flight started, he was prepared to bet ten to one on MacDorfald’s success. The Daily Express announces that it has a letter in its possession,, which will be published in the Sunday Express, setting out the reason why MacDonald ventured the flight alone. It says: Before he started, lie left this extraordinary letter, to be opened by has wife two> days after his departure from Newfoundland.

AIRS' AIacDONALD EXPLAINS

HUSBAND’S LAST LETTER

LONDON, Oct. 20. “Why did you let him go?” Thus writes Mrs MacDonald in a poignant article in the “Sunday Express,” “is a question women friends have been asking ever since my husband started on his flight. My answer is—" When has a wife of an Englishman or a wife of a patriot of any country, tried to dissuade her husband from an act of courage or credit to his nation ? Did Englishwomen try to prevent their men from fighting in the war? The affair began in a crowded restaurant after Lindbergh’s flight. Two Americans were talking. They said ‘Yes, we’ve put it across England.’ My husband, sitting nearby, overheard, and formed a decision. He planned a world flight

and crashed in a desert. Failure soem-

ed only to stimulate him. He bought v a new machine and told me he was going away for the week-end. I only learned he had gone to America from friends, who accidentally saw him setting off from Paddington Station. The next news came in a few brief cables before starting the flight and then silence, until a friend handed me a letter which my husband left to be given to me two days after the start of his flight. “That’letter Is sacred. It was meant for me only, but some of. it must be given to the world for bis sake. He wrote: ‘I know -you are against it. and I know people will say I am a suicidal fool, but .1 do not think it. After all,' they called Lindbergh a flying fool. If an American could do it an Englishman can. If I have made d mistake darling, lam sorry. It will be terrible for you.’ ” . Mrs MacDonald adds that she will carry oh her husband’s business as a yachting agent.