POLISH AIRMEN RESCUED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 425, 6 August 1928, Page 1

POLISH AIRMEN RESCUED

PLANE DOWN IN MID-ATLANTIC COURTNEY TELLS GRAPHIC STORY COMPLAINT ABOUT EXPENSE TO LINERS (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and 27. Z. Press Association) Reed. 10.35 a.m. WARSAW, Sunday. THE biplane of the Polish Atlantic flyers, M. Idzikowski and M. Kubala, came down in mid-ocean. The airmen, who were saved by the German ship Samos, were unhurt; but the machine was destroyed.

The airmen, left the Le Bourget airdrome, Paris, on Friday, on a flight to New York, via the Azores. They hoped to reach the American city in 42 hours. The distance over the course mapped out was 5,000 miles. The biplane carried 1,550 gallons of petrol. The two Poles were the first to follow the southern instead of the northern grand circle. A message from Berlin says the “Berliner Tageblatt” described the venture as a neck-breaking flight with a one-motored airplane. The steamer Amakura reported that in lattitude 46 degrees 26 minutes north, longitude 20 degrees 40 minutes west (nearly quarter of the way across the Atlantic) an airplane approached her from the westward, encircled the ship at a distance of half a mile and at a height of 500 feet, and swiftly departed northward without signalling. Idzikowski and Kubala flew only 31 bours, a defective petrol feed-pipe compelling a descent 60 miles from Finistere, tbe plane forcibly striking tbe waves and smashing tbe wings. While tbe Samos was towing the machine, one aviator fell down aboard, injuring his arms. He was placed in hospital. LIKE BLAZING COMET PLANE DIVES TO SEA COURTNEY’S THRILLING TALE (United, Service) LONDON, Saturday. Diving his blazing plane to the sea like a great red comet, Captain F. T. Courtney, the British airman, saved the lives of his companions. In his own copyright story, sent by radio from the liner Minnewaaka, which rescued them, he says: “The plane caught fire abruptly and nearly ended our flight tragically. . . . I was discussing the engines with the mechanic, Fred Pierce, when I saw the most horrible sight of my flying career. “The cheery exhaust flame behind suddenly changed to a dull red glow.

I was stunned to see the rear engine enveloped in flames, which were stretching out like a giant blow-lamp to the rear over the seat of our passenger, Elwood Hosmer, and beyond the rudder. “The tail of the machine in the darkness must have resembled a grotesque red comet. The situation seemed like a nightmare. “It did not occur to me that we could reach the water before the tail burned. My subsequent actions merely blindly followed my piloting instinct, which possibly saved us. “Pierce rushed into the engineroom and turned off the petrol. Three seconds later it would have been too late. “I cut off all the switches, threw the machine into a headlong dive through, the blackness with a vague idea of burning up the escaped petrol if Pierce should have failed to turn off the cocks. The dive shot Gilmour from his seat. GLOW ON THE WAVES “As I drew out of the dive, with the burning seaplane overloaded by one ton, I saw the glow reflected on the crests of the waves. I managed t.o put the machine on one crest and ran her down a hill of water and up the next, just preventing the seaplane shooting into the air off the crest. After several jolts the machine came to rest on the sea without damage. "During the descent Pierce, in an amazing fashion, succeeded in turning off the cocks and in applying the fire extinguisher inside the engineroom. This greatly diminished the flames, the remainder of which, instead of streaming out behind, burned directly over the opening in the hull containing 600 gallons of petrol. “The fire extinguisher was exhausted and the flames burned fiercely for a quarter of an hour while we four stood awaiting the final explosion, which never came. When the flames subsided we erected boat hooks to support an emergency wireless set. Gilmour then sent out S.O.S. calls, but we received no reply. RESCUE DESCRIBED “We knew our position was serious and we put our last power into directional signals to the Minriewaska. We tried smoke signals, ■ and nearly reignited the machine. “We waited dejectedly and became seasick owing to the continual rolling. Gilmour then announced casually: ‘Ship sighted/ I called hiifi a liar, then looked and saw the finest sight I have ever seen—the Minnewaska steaming toward us. “I have failed again to fly across the Atlantic, but I am not disheartened as my failure proved my point better than success. I have always insisted that a seaworthy machine and efficient wireless are essential to successful ocean flights. These principles saved our lives in about as bad a situation as aviators ever were in.” COST TO RESCUE-SHIPS BETWEEN £7,000 AND £IO,OOO (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) LONDON, Saturday. The “Daily Mali” says the rescue of Captain Courtney and his companions calls attention to the expenses entailed upon the shipping companies whose vessels responded to their S.O.S. calls. Several linehad to leave their course to rush to the assistance of the airmen. The efforts of all but one were necessarily in vain. The aggregate cost to them was probably between £7,000 and £IO,OOO. A shipping official says that whereas vessels are always ready Jj answer distress messages from ships on the Atlantic, flyers are in a different category, inasmuch as they start out knowing they will be lionised if they are successful. But they do not consider the expense caused if anything goes wrong.