ERIC HOOK

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1930, Page 3

ERIC HOOK

BURIED AT PROME.

A SAD ENDING

(United Proas Association —By Electric telegraph—Copyright). ■% V.. i? v : ; (Received this day at 8 a.m.) PROME, July 81.', Yfhe remains of, Eric Hook were intei'red',at the local cemetery this morn- • * <* • *■“ ■■ * ' v nig.' r '■ The! funeral was accomiranied by Hook’s* companion, Matthews, DeputyCommissioiier, all important district officers'iltfH military police, with reversed rideSiV sad cortege was witnessed by numerous' spectators, all of whom were deeply moved. Matthews remains at Prome until his health ; is re-established. vi »v.

. ■ •:;I•• —Tf -1 i Z >1 •* 1] iy; ' ! on. the morning of Jirly; : %d._ Hopip and Matthews, a {four yhoUps’.-'-fligliil -encountered had monsoon "'weather ‘while crossing the - visibility was poor and the sky clouded. IJie. crashed. Luckpnlxt. iiijiinbd'o plump, where it remained suspended for a few minutes ancf then slid* to the ground, thus saving the aviators, neither of whom w.qs injured. I,The iplane was damaged, hut not totally wrecked. It is reported that tli?'accident .happened about loGjuiies frp^.Rrome'i.n a thick jungle. Leaving the ’plane there and taking what provisions they had, the flyers started walking.

They had great difficulty in their progress,# hut ultimately came out of the jungle and discovered a stream. .jfflip l »ha^>lity':was i not inhabited. Though, thoyjkiiffered .from, exposure to th e wetahoj' jah 8; xve b &- sea ii ti ly; piad, the two ; apd continued wpjking.for*keten days. EihL; Hookj]*'because, of; : indUspositioiy aiidij. fatigue, • collapsed.. :; fj... ; , •: ; , who • was-yepy; weak: made Hook*" p,s]i ?oin'ft)rl!a.hie» ! itsf: possible! and left ,to : ;gb, on 'a lonely < search for help. Subsequently' .he. collapsed near a village close tpLpadaumg township. The villagers picked, him lip,and.sheltered him while some of - them left in search of Hook. Matthews was later takeiv'tbf Shewdaung by a country boat hip tlience i:o Prome. Eric Hook is a young Australian whose home was. in Sydney and who once" worked in Melbourne as an insiirancb elerk. He set out secretly on his flight to Australia from Lympne OTrrtihne 20th. 'He took as assistant pilot J. who passed all his flyfff^'rtesis*-on the same "day' as did Hbokj’l'only: six days before the: start. Although they met with a series of misMps oh the flight,-the young flyers woye undaunted,, and at the end of nine days they had reached Allahabad and were level with Bert Hinkler’s rethat . .stage. ,>■ j : Ba(l }w eat her delayed them pi day on th^“-il , lafiabad-Cal<yutta stage, but *on air arid/reached Akrab on. the way. to Rangoon.

. .v, Rook’s wife, who, with their two children, is in England, was on her way-to Brighton to celebrate her 22nd. birthday when she heard the news of the crash. j Mrs Hook, of Sydney, mother of Eric Hook, the missing flyer, received a letter last week from her son, dated London, June 2nd. in which he said: “I will get there or bust. I-have never been so homesick before. The dull leaden* skies make ; one'long for Aiis-tralia-t--some day;” The last two 'words -wbfb findeflmed. ■■ l • ' Gdhtinuingj tlie airman wrote: “-Six days ago I passed all-flying tests. The sole- purpoe of the flight is to lower the Londpn-Dairwin time by a few days. J nrti ‘not setting put' to heat Hinkler, b ? ut THim using a ‘sm<ilier ’plaiie than HiiilcWr’s, and T am taking Jack Matthews as a passenger,-he"having got his license on the same day as myself. I am piloting, and lie is second in command. 'We will carry sufficient petrol for ten hours’ flying, which sadly overloads the little bus, whose markings rare,; G—AAAVV She is coloured hlfi^and dgold; and her name is Diryasel, which, when interpreted, means ‘Dry as hell,” because the pilot and Ills assistant are on the water waggon until we reach Australia. When I get to Sydney I will probably go on the ‘bust.’”