HIGH ADVENTURE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 232, 23 May 1932, Page 2

HIGH ADVENTURE

AIRWOMAN FLIES TO RESCUE ANOTH.ER IN. HEART OF AFRICA. OVER THE DESERT. The Viscountess Violette de Sibour, who is a daughter of Mr. Gordon Selfridge, flew to the aid of the well known Freneh airwoman, Maryse Hilz, who had been forced down by trouble in the heart of Africa. After conveying a new engine to MUs. Hilz, M. and Mde. de Sibour flew back to France, where they arrived safely towards the end of MarCh. On her return the vicomptesse related the story of the fiight in the following words: On Fehruary 5 a message camo through from Maryse Hilz, the Freneh airwoman, announcing that her engine had seized. She was then somewh'ere in equatorial Africa on her way to Madagascar. A complete new engine was essential, and we at once decided to offer to fly one out. It was something of a feat, for our own machine, a 300 horse-powor Gnome Rhone, to take off carryin ? a load of 28001b in all. The 10001b engine was propped as securely as possible immediately hehind us. The knowledge that it would probably crush us in case of a crash added dubiously to the sport. A period of Arctic weather had set in. Our course lay down through France to the Spanish coast, Gibraltar, Morocco, Rio de Oro (where one risks worse than death from the natives), Senegal, Dakar, and tlren inland for about 3000 kilometres. Our adventures began just hefore Bordeaux, when our oil tank burst, flooding the fuselage. Later, over the Spanish border, we ran into a hurricane. Loaded as we were, our contf'ols barely answered. My husband accomplished a difficult forced landing in a tiny field in the hills. We learned subsequently that trees had been uprooted and the telephone and telegraph put out of action. We finally reached Morocco, a peaceful and delightful country from a pilot's point of view.

Water by Sea. The next difficult stage was Rio de Oro, where there are 1500 kilometres of completely desert coast line belonging officially to Spain. Actually there are two posts surrounded by barbed wire or one square kilometre each. Outside of this they have no authority. Every drop of water is brought to the Spanish garrisons by a steamer which « calls fortnightly from the Canary Islands. Besides our supercargo we carried a Mooris'n interpreter. They said that in case of a forced landing he might save our lives. He was so airsick, however, that I doubt his usefulness had we had trouble. Luckily Safari, our ship, carried us safely over these sinister shores. Further south over Dakar we turned inland. The Niger River winds through vast tracts of sun-parched land. We were signalled from place to place, a very necessary precaution. In a few days we had travelled from

ice and snow to 118deg in the shade. Our machine felt the reaction as much as we did, but flew us nobly to our destination. South and North Again At Niamey we found Maryse Hilz. She had left her plane in the desert patch where she had hiade a forced landing, 100 kilometres from nowhere. We loaded the spare motor on a lorry, and five of us, our two mechanics, and our three selves, set up camp near the ground and shot for food while the mechanics did valiant work with the engine. With the aid of natives we levelled a nearby bit of ground, as there was too much soft sand where the plane lay. On the evening of the eighth day all was ready, and we somewhat anxiously watched the take-off. A week later we said good-bye to Naimey and to each other, Maryse carrying on southward and we back towards France. 1 Nothing startling happened on the return journey, whicli we enjoyed far more for not having Ihe moral responsihility of a 10001b engine at onr back. In Casablanca we learned that we had apparently been lost. It seems that at one moir.ent telegraphic communication had been cut, besides which how can one tele■fflaali»lfHLjml£s_from no where?