NEARLY A DISASTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 126, 1 May 1925, Page 5

NEARLY A DISASTER.

WHEN R 33 BROKE ADRIFT.

LONDON. April 17. Tho R 33, which broke adrift and travelled over Holland before weathering a storm and returning to Pulhani, strained at her moorings on the 110 ft. high mooring mast for many hours before smashing away with a terrific crash from tho mooring hook and extra mooring ropes. Drifting broadside on out to sea she rolled erratically, and was nearly turned upside down. . . On the way she narrowly escaped hitting a farm, whose occupants could see the flapping eahvas on her damaged nose, while the mooring ropes were thrashing the sides like whips. After that, she righted, and when her propellers were started she roso_ but was rapidly driven towards the coast and disappeared ill the storm clouds and rain squalls, amid tho anxiety of huge crowds on the seashore. RETURN HOME OF THE R 33. BATTLE WITH THE ELEMENTS. LONDON, April 18. “The R 33 has made airship history by magnificently surviving an emergency unparalleled in the annals of airehip flying,” says tho Times, in a leading article on the recent adventure of the airehip. “The whole adventure is a wonderful testimony to tho presence of mind, discipline und consummate air sense of Lieutenant Booth and his crew. “Themselves youngsters, and members of tho youngest of the three services on which tho existence of the country depends,” tho article continued, they have again shown, as British airmen showed in wartime, that the qualities and traditions which the R.A.F. shares with the two senior services, are the imperishable heritage of the race. But they have done more, for by their Bkilful navigation they have thrown iiew light on tho powers of endurance and resistance to the elements of which airships are capable.” Thousands of sightseers motored to Pulhatn from miles around, while there was an enormous crowd of helpers, including relatives of tho crew, waiting at the aerodrome for R33’s return. A great cheer wont up when the anxious skipper, Flight-Lieutenant Irwin, first espied the airship on the horizon, limping home at a height of 800 ft. She was floating at an angle of 35 degrees. Her nose was badly damaged, great rents in the fabrio exposing the bare steel fraifiework. Willing hands seized tho mooring ropes, and all cheered the crew as they left the cabins, tired but happy as skylarks and none tho worse for tneir adventure. The airship was safely housed in the hangar. The hero of the involuntary flight and tho plucky battle with the elements was Flight-Lieutenant Booth, who, 30 years of age, is nicknamed “Mouldy.” He is re§arded ns knowing more about airships ran older experts. Ho had a magnificent wartime record, principally for spotting and sinking submarines in the English Channel.

Sergeant Hunt, in an interview, said that the snapping of the mooring mast was not unexpected. “The moment of greatest danger,” ho said, “was when we broke loose and rolled and tumbled with such velocity that a crash seemed inevitable. Only Lieutenant Booth’s prompt and superb handling saved the vessel. The crew had an extremely uncomfortable few minutes, being tossed about like marbles in a box. Afterwards wo were quite comfortable, our only trouble being a shortage of cigarettee.” The Director of Civil Aviation, Air ViceMarshal Sir Sefton Brancker, said the airship was never in great danger. It oould have turned and gone with the wind behind it. Everything had turned out exactly as experts had predioted, showing that the Empire airship services’ schemo was thoroughly practicable and safe. a ANOTHER IN U.S. i CHICAGO, April 17. America, like England, had trouble with the dirigible fleet to-day. TC3, a big airship with a crew of seven, broke her steering apparatus over Caseyvillo. Illinois, and was forced to drift with the air currents like a freo balloon.