PLANE DISAPPEARS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1932, Page 6

PLANE DISAPPEARS

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LONDON, December 8,

Aeroplanes and lifeboats. co-op P-rated .recently in an effort to solve a mysterious storm drama of the Lngl.sh Channel —th e disappearance of a German air mail -liner and the two men who we lie taking her to C°iogne from Croydon. Their search was unsuccessful, and the Air Ministry reported that there was. no < pews'of the missing men. The missing aeroplane was a regular night iidighter on the Croydon and Ccjiofjvte-iWl.in route. Reportg stated to have been issued bv Continental radio stations, announcing that an unknown ship had picked up, the airhien, only made the riddle moie perplexing, as no confirmation could be obtained.

When the air liner took off from Croydon on -a Saturday night on her last journey for the season, the wind had dropped and the sea was deported c-alm. But when, 45 minutes later, the machin e sent out a wireless call for help a gale was raging in the Channel, and angry seas W'ere running.

No position was given by the fallen aeroplane, which had on board a pilot, Herr Wilhelm -Cmio, and a wireless operator, .Herr Werner Drebes. It was lyssumied, {however, that- she was at the mercy of the seas somewhere between Dover and Calais.

The Dover lifeboat Sir Wiliam Hillary, which was specially built for rescuing airmen, was immediately launched with a crew of six, under Coxswain C. H. Bryant. She had instructions to search a 10-mile radius. After the. lifeboat had g‘> n e the following radio message from th e British collier Gaslight was received, at North Foreland and passed on the Walton.oiiNaze coastguards ;—“Have sighttyl distress flares near north-east LJunfleet Buoy. Unable to ascertain nature of distress. Gun-fleet. Light answering with rockets.”

After a perilous row fvopi the pier, during which their hoardng boat was frequently on the point of capsizing, fhp Walton-oriNuTO crew succeeded in reach ing their lifeboat and beaded out "to sea. They could see the reef distress •fiare s as 'they'' plunged on, but when they witched the Gut.’fleet Sands there was only darkness and silence. For more than 10 hours they searched, but failed 'to find n trace of the vessel Oj- aeroplane which bad burned .the* flares. Meanwhile, the Dover lifeboat had fought It's way east-we-T i” the worst tempest it has experienced since it was launched by the Prince of Wales two years ago. Shortly "before midnight the Dover men received wireless, instructions to search between Dover -and Deai, and for -about three hours Coxswain Bryant cruised in that area, flashing the boats powerful searchlight ‘ and fighting great seas which threatened to swamp n;« vessel at any moment. From time to time the wireless operator in the iSi-r William Hillary, sent message,s reporting the lifeboat's movements, and finally came hi.s report of the complete failure of the search.

When dawn cam.-; the search was resumed. Royal Air Force aeroplanes taking part; bnt, although they flew over every part of the Channel, they failed to find a trace of the air liner or of any wreckage. Three reports that the airmen had been rescued wer e sent out dn. ? from Brussels and two from Paris. One Paris message stated that they were picked up off the Belgian coast; the. other that thev were found near the 'Gunfleet Lightship. Brussels announced that, they had been saved near Deal.