AIRMEN’S TERRIBLE TRIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 207, 21 November 1927, Page 1

AIRMEN’S TERRIBLE TRIP

i’ll® British air authorities placed a machine at the airmen’s disposal, but this was declined, as both fliers wre anxious that their own plane should be repaired. There is a sugestion that the flight may be resumed to India, but most likely the men will stay at Lemberg, effect repairs, and bring the machine home. In the meantime they are being lavishly entertained. BUND JOURNEYING A "Sun” message from Lemberg sives the story of the flight, as related by Hinkler. H said that after flying for 24 hours through continuous snowstorms, they landed 10 miles inside the Polish frontier. They had previously estimated that they were near Astrakan, 1,000 miles south of Moscow, and had covered 2,800 miles. After passing Flushing they flew for 12 hours in darkness, through snowstorms. It was thh most terrifying time the airmen had ever experienced. They repeatedly lost control when at a height of 5,000 ft and did not regain control until they were a few hundred feet above the ground. Navigation was impracticable, as all landmarks were blotted out. They had to trust to the compass, and eventually were trapped among mountains. They bMndly flew up and down among valleys, and had sharply to bank every tow and again to avoid the hillsides. • frozen Limbs Dawn showed a fogbank B,oooft up. The cold was intense and the machine was covered with ice. Their frozen limbs militated against keeping control. . They knew by dead reckoning that they must be somewhere over Russia. They then decided to head for India. Three hours later, finding progress impossible, they turned back and sought a landing place. They landed safely on a rough surface in a ploughed field near Podhajce, in Galicia, South Poland, watched by the populace of the Tillage. The machine was escorted on a farm wagon to the police statist! soma miles distant. They were detained for some hours until an interpreter arrived, and the police were satisfied with their credentials. They spent the next day in futile efforts to get a message through to England. With the help of local residents the following day they took off again and flew in the direction of Warsaw. AIRMEN FLUNG OUT When nearing Lemberg the weather became impossible and they were forced down and landed in a ploughed field. The machine fell forward on its nose. The wingtip crumpled, and the propeller blade snapped off. The airmen were shot out of their seats, but were not injured. The flight would have been successful, said Mr. Hinkler, if the weather had been better. They maintained a speed of 110 miles an hour for 24 hours. Another message says Hinkier and Mclntosh left the plane in the care of ths military authorities, to be sent to Lemberg, from which place, assisted by the British Consul, LieutenantColonel J. J. Whitehead, they have entrained for London. The airmen are still in Lemberg, to which place they travelled in a train, accompanied by two men who were injured when the plane landed. One of these peasants has a broken leg, and the other severe bruises. They reported tho accident to the British Consul and to the Polish authorities. — A- and N.Z. GILES MEETS FOG airmen forced back PACIFIC VENTURE SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday. Captain F. A. Giles started on his trans-Pacifie flight at 8.17 a.m. to-day asainst the advice of the officials of ine Weather Bureau. When he was 20 miles out he encountered a heavy fog and was forced Jettison part of his petrol. He re--•trned to the Mills Field airport after e had been in the air barely 45 minteß. When he had climbed out of th he said that after passing e ban Francisco lighthouse, about 18 ou t from the coast, he encounied a f og so tijjgjj that W as imnesmble to continue. He dumped nearly gallons of petrol Into the ocean ““beaded back to the shore. says he will not now make a rtfier attempt until the weather fs v antageous. He had been warned hjsterday by Captain Kingsford Smith, 0““ “ade two test flights in the plane _ “them Cross, that the conditions Ukely to be unfavourable. —A. and N.z. early mishap CARBERY DOWN IN FRANCE TRIP TO CAPETOWN LONDON, Saturday. CarK - ln Carbery, formerly Lord trnrn 6 ?’’ who departed this morning tor® Cr ° ydou to fly to Capetown, was e “ come down near Lyons. He reached Marseilles. , route is by way of Cairo and

HINKLER IN GREAT SNOW STORM MACHINE DAMAGED ON LANDING By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. r ßeceived 9 5 a.m.. LONDON, Sunday. E authorities have offered every assistance to Mr Bert Hinkler and Captain R. H. Mclntosh who, attempting a flignt to India, battled through snowstorms for 24 hours and were eventually forced to give up the flight, their machine being damaged in landing. They had terrifvinsr experiences. J s

Central Africa, to Kenya Colony, where he is a large landowner —A. and N.Z.