DROPPED BY PARACHUTE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26637, 6 December 1947, Page 8

DROPPED BY PARACHUTE

URGENT MEDICAL SUPPLIES FLIGHT TO CHATHAM ISLANDS P.A. CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 5. Two R.N.Z.A.F. Hudson aircraft and crews from the Wigram air station yesterday dropped urgently-needed medical supplies by parachute container at Waitangi, in the Chatham Islands. The flight was made at the request of the resident doctor, Dr D. J. Patterson, who, in a cable message, asked for an aircraft to pick up a seriously ill child. It was decided that a landing was impracticable with Hudsons, the only aircraft available for such a long flight, and four parachute containers were filled with medical supplies at the Christchurch. Hospital. The aircraft, each carrying two containers with identical supplies in case one was forced back, took off in the morning at 10.40 and 11 o’clock. The flight was made under good conditions, the first aircraft arriving over Waitangi at 2 p.m. The containers from this plane landed near a specially-prepared white cross. The second arrived on schedule and also made a perfect dropping operation. The aircraft completed the 940-mile round flight at 5 p.m.