SEARCH ABANDONED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 253, 16 January 1928, Page 11

SEARCH ABANDONED

No Trace of Missing Airmen FEW TRAMPERS REMAIN IN RANGES <Special to THE SUE; WELLINGTON, To-day. EXCEPT in very remote possibility of searchers finding a trace of the missing machine to-day, all hope of ever tracing Lieutenant Moncrieff, Captain Hood and the airp ane in which they attempted to fly across the Tasman last week, is officially abandoned.

T h E Minister ot Defence announced late on Saturday night that the search of the ocean was discontinued owing to rough weather in the Tasman the officers of the Diomede and the Dunedin being of the opinion that no airplane or raft could possibly have kept afloat in the heavy seas running. Hon. F. J. Rolleston and the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, senior Minister at present in town, conferred again with Major Wilkes this morning, and it was decided that nothing further could be done by Captain Findlay, who will return to Christchurch this afternoon. Mr. A. McNicol, chief organiser of the flight, returned to Dannevirke yesterday. Mrs. Hood, wife of Captain Hood, will follow him to-day. Mrs. Moncrieffs home is in Wellington. The following official statements were made shortly after 1 p.m.: The Minister for Defence, the Hon. F. J. Rolleston, stated to-day that the report from the mastei of the Kaiwarra that he had seen the Tasman fliers had been carefully perused, and while It was very deftnite regarding the sighting of the plane in the vicinity of Porirua Harbour at 11 p.m., no trace had been found on any of the beaches or surrounding country to Indicate that a landing had been made. The searching airplanes had covered the whole of the country between Cape Palltser and Wanganui Heads, and as Captain Findlay had the assistance of two observers with powerful glasses, and the visibility was perfect, there is no reason to think now that the airmen are anywhere in that vicinity. Captain Findlay even flew lower over the valleys than could be deemed safe, to convince himself that every valley should be viewed. Practically every portion of the country along the coast, and inland from east of Otaki to Palliser Bay, has been searched. Major T. M. Wilkes, Director of Air Services, made the following statement to the Minister with reference to Captain Davies’s statement that two flares were seen to drop from the airplane:—lt has been definitely established that no flares were carried, and a suggestion previously made that coton waste soaked in petrol was lighted and thrown from the machine can be dismissed, as the great danger of a naked light in the vicinity of the airplane would certainly not be entertained by pilots of Moncrieff and Hood’s experience. “No navigation lights were carried as part of the aircraft’s equipment, and the light of the small pocket torches, stated to have been handed to Moncrieff before taking off, could not be seen from a distance from which the engine could not be heard. In any case, the beam of light would in all probability be directed on the instruments, which were situated in the front of the cockpit well forward of the leading edge of the plane, and therefore could not illuminate it. "In his statement Captain Davies refers to the upper part of the plane, but no light in the cabin, however powerful, could light up the upper surface, and observers from below could not see it.” A message from Westport states that beaches from Fox River, in the South, to Cape Farewell, have been searched, and various rumours of the missing airplane Investigated, but nothing was found. Most of the Tararua Tramping Club members who have been searching for the missing airplane returned to their various occupations to-day, and biit for one or two parties the search is abandoned. Fortunately no accidents are reported among the trampers.