Third Airplane Missing

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 129, 22 August 1927, Page 1

Third Airplane Missing

TRAGEDIES OF DOLE RACE Grave Fears For Seven Lives A THIRD airplane which set out over the Pacific from San Francisco is now missing. She is the Dallas Spirit. Two radio messages indicated that she was tail-spinning; and there has been silence since. Grave fears are felt for the safety of the Dallas Spirit, as well as for the fliers in the planes Miss Doran and Golden Eagle, which have been missing since Tuesday last.

By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright.

VANCOUVER, Saturday. A MESSAGE from San Francisco says the pilot, Captain William Erwin, taking with him A. H. Eichwaldt as navigator, left Oakland at 2.15 p.m. on Friday for Honolulu to seek for the other two missing planes. Two radio messages were received in the evening, but the Dallas Spirit has not been heard from since. The messages stated that the machine was tail-spinning. MESSAGE SUDDENLY CUT OFF. This S.O.S. was sent out from a point 592 nautical miles west of San Francisco. The nearest vessel was the steamer Pleiodon, bound from Auckland to San Francisco. She sent out word that she was proceeding to the position from which the monoplane had wirelessed. The steamer was under forced draught. It is feared that Captain Erwin’s attempt to find the Miss Doran and Golden Eagle has only resulted in adding another of the long list of tragedies and mishaps connected with the Dole flight. Naval vessels are speeding toward the locality from which the Dallas Spirit was last reported by radio. The last message from the plane said: “We are In another tail-spin.” It was then dramatically cut off. Experts fear the final spin brought disaster. MYSTERIOUS RADIO SOUNDS Further mystery is added to the situation by the fact that radio operators at various points on the Pacific Coast have reported having heard sounds after Captain Erwin’s last message. These might have indicated that he was endeavouring to get his sending set into commission again. After a stop at Honolulu, Captain Erwir. had Intended flying to Hongkong with a stop at Tokio in orv.er to win a special prize of £5,000 which Mr. William Easterwood offered him to fly from’Dallas. Texas, to Hongkong. He would also have been eligible for £IO,OOO reward. Advices from Washington state that officials there express the belief that there is little chance of finding the five occupants of the other two missing planes alive. Nevertheless, the desperate search by the Navy, augmented by planes and passenger ships, will continue at least until Tuesday. Both planes were assuredly forced to descend and naval officials fear their canvas wings might be soaked by v.-ater and the rubber safety-boats overturned or broken by the Pacific swells. TRAGEDIES OF THE RACE It is understood that those connected with the Dole flight are deeply

affected by the series of tragedies attendant upon It. Three airmen are known to be dead, six others and Miss Mildred Doran are missing, three planes have been wrecked and three are missing. Enormous sums of money have been spent in preparing for the flights and in the rescue work. A message from Honolulu says a signal corps there to-day intercepted two messages, partly undecipherable, from an unidentified ship. These reported that the Golden Eagle had been found. It is not known whether the messages are authentic. The steamer West Sequanna wirelessed to San Francisco saying members of its crew had seen flares from the water in the vicinity of the Dallas Spirit’s crash. An all-night search had been made, but nothing was discovered.—A. and N.Z.