AIRMEN TURN BACK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 905, 24 February 1930, Page 9

AIRMEN TURN BACK

FLIGHT FROM KARACHI INTERRUPTED NARROW ESCAPE AT JASK United P. A.—By Telegraph— Copyright Reed, noon DELHI, Sunday. On the strength of messages from tha Burmah Oil Company, a small crowd had been waiting at Dumdum all afternoon for Piper and Kaye, the news from Karachi indicated that New Zealand airmen, although the they had been held up by fog at Hyderbad, capital of the Sindh. After covering a hundred miles of the journey they had apparently given up hope of a spectacular dash for Australia. It seems they' had the narrowest of escapes in the forced landing at Jask, only just hitting the beach instead of falling into the sea. THRILLING EXPERIENCE An earlier message announced that the journey from Jask to Karachi occupied six hours. The fliers had a thrilling experience at Jask, which they related when they were overhauling their engine at Karachi. “We took off early in the morning in pitch darkness from Jask airdrome,” said Mr. Kaye. “We turned toward the sea, but five minutes after the start our engine failed. “We did not know where we were, but we turned the machine about and planed at as flat an angle as we could, fully expecting to hit the sea. The bump we received in nalding told us we had hit something more solid. When day broke we found we had just managed to make the beach.” PISTON-ROD MELTS

Mr. Piper stated that when the engine was stripped he found that one piston-rod had melted and blobs 9f aluminium were adhering to the cylinder. The latter was removed and found not to be so badly scored as was expected. The cylinder was scraped and cleaned with caustic acid, and the piston-rod was replaced. Tlie valves, which at first were thought to be causing the trouble, were cleaned of the aluminium deposits and the engine was reassembled.— It gave no trouble in the flight from Jask. Describing the earlier part of their journey the fliers said they experienced awful weather through Southern France. From Avignon to Italy there was a series of snowstorms and they were often flying with the ground obscured and at low altitudes. The weight of the snow on the airplane retarded their progress. Landings were made short of their destinations so that petrol supplies were difficult to obtain. FLIGHT THROUGH ITALY

Through Italy headwinds impeded the airmen until half-way. Then they were helped by a change in the wind. They made good progress to Malta, but flew to Benghasi against contrary wirujs, and much rain. Progress was slow along the North African coast, many landing grounds being bogged. Mud from these is still adhering to the undercarriage of the machine.

At Rutbah Wells the fliers found the desert airdrome under water, so they decided to fly to Bagdad. They reached it when their petrol was almost exhausted. A rapid flight was made to Jask, and they thought their luck had changed, when the engine failed.

The airmen have no intention of attempting anything spectacular, but will progress steadily to Australia.