AVIATION

Hokitika Guardian, 25 February 1932, Page 5

AVIATION

HAMILTON AND COUPLAND. RETURNING TO ENGLAND. (United Press Association—x>y Electric Telegraph —Copyright.; ROM K, February 23. Hamilton and Umipland, interviewed at the hospital at Ruvo, stated that they will not continue the journey. and are returning to England, after a few days’ recuperation. They say t.ha|. they flew into a blinding snowstorm on Friday evening, ami struck, a rocky mountainside, smashing the wheels of the machine. They, were forced to remain all night long on the mountain, enduring ngohv from the (crrihle cold. Next morning they shouted incessantly for h. ip for an hour without avail. They found an empty cottage. Peasants came to their assistance and took them to a farm where first aid was remit red. 'Hamilton was bleeding from the mouth and nose, tuif! jL’ouphmd wa.s badly bruised. Meanwhile, the aeroplane lies buried in the snow. An .attempt was made by a number of Italian soldiers to dismantle the aeroplane, but the snow was so thick that they found it impossible.

PLANE LANDS I,N SNOW. TRIALS OF AIRMEN. ROME, February 23. At Ruvo di Puglia, Hamilton and lOoupland, whose lives wto 1 © saved by a snowdrift, are now ns a precautionary measure in bed lit separate roomi. after the shock and exposure they received. They have had inany : callers. Hamilton, sitting up cheerfully smoking. .said: ‘‘After leaving Rome we climbed tea thousand feet to clear eight thousand feet hills. Snow clouds obscured our view, but the forecast predicted line weather shortly, and so we kept on, but were still befogged after 160 minutes, so we concluded we were over the Plains. IV e shared piloting. The snowstorm at four thousand feet made everything Invisible. We tried to descend and crashed between A 1 tamura and Corato.”

iCoupland added that he found Hamilton senseless, with, cuts on his face. The machine was embedded deep in the snow, the undercarriage lost, and the propeller broken. He explored and found .a deserted hut two miles away. He return to the machine, but fainted. Hamilton .recovered at dawn and both shouted and attracted the attention of peasants. They walked miles to a farm .in snow so [deep that the journey of twenty miles to Ruvo took eight hours. “Wo aie preparing a fresh light to reach London.’’

PLANE FORCED DOWN. NEW PLYMOUTH, February 24. A plane piloted by J. N. Stephenson, with J. Ewington as passenger, made a forced landing in a mist at Kaiinata, near Inglewood, this afternoon. No damage occurred. The jilane came from Auckland and will continue R* journey to Haworn in the morning, A heavy mist south of Raglan gave flier* trouble, They had lunch at New Plymouth, hut later found flying impossible, and landed in a rough paddock.