'POSSUM'S JUMP

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 286, 28 July 1932, Page 8

'POSSUM'S JUMP

LEAP FROM 'PLANE. 1 UNHURT AFTER 1000FT. DROP. g A remarkable story of how an opos- ! sum leapt from an aeroplane flying j at a height of 1000 feet and landed j without harm to itself or the young it jj was earrying in its pouch comes from $ Martinborough. \ While flying solo over Puruatanga recently a Wellington pilot, Mr. C. - Waite, was astounded to see the head jj of an animal appear above the front fj cockpit and two bright eyes fasten on j him. After a few minutes' survey, j the animal commenced to approach ; him along the top' of the fuselage. Not g recognising what it was at thle 1 time, and not being anxious for any j furry company in his own cockpit, j the pilot waved his arm vigorously at I the approaching animal, which was an : opossum. * Becoming frightened, the opossum, a female with a young one in its pouch, made a frantic leap for the I lower wing of the plane. It was j caught in the backwash of air from j the propeller, however, and swept out j into space. As soon as the animal dropped out of sight Mr. Waite checked his altitude by the height indicator and found that he was flying at 1000 feet. Down below, a district farmer, Mr T. Hayman, who had been watching the plane saw a black object falling from it, and, thinking it was a scarf, went across the paddock to recover it He was amazed on approaching to see the "scarf" spring into action and j disappear up a tree. Mr. Hayman, i the pilot of the plane and several others subsequently examined the opossum, and . Mr. H. J. Kingsnorth photographed it. It was found that the opossum was uninjured and that neither it nor its young appeared any the worse for the 1000 feet fall. The plane in which the opossum commenced its adventurous journey had been in the Martinborough liangar for the past week, and the animal had apparently entered through a broken panel in the door and taken up quarters in the cockpit.