ANTARCTIC AIR LOSS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 917, 10 March 1930, Page 16

ANTARCTIC AIR LOSS

AIRPLANE AND TWO MEN WEEK’S FRUITLESS SEARCH From Our Own Correspondent INVERCARGILL, Today. When the whaling factory-ships, C. A. .Larsen and Sir .Tames Clark Ross, returned to their base at Stewart Island on Saturday afternoon, details were learned of the flying tragedy which occurred in the Antarctic at the end of December, when a plane and two men from the Kosmos were lost. The airplane, which was used in scouting for whales, left the Kosmos on December 26 piloted by Lief Lier and carrying the ship’s doctor, L>r. Ingvald Schreiner, as passenger. It carried fuel for five hours and as it was only intended to make a short flight the, captain of the Kosmos became anxious after two or three hours. He wirelessed to the other factoryships in the vicinity for any information about the machine’s movements. When it appeared to be definite that something was amiss all the factoryships called in their chasers and instituted a systematic search. The 19 chasers and five factory-ships spent a week in searching. All whaling operations were completely suspended. No trace could be found of the machine. in spite of all their efforts. Every iceberg encountered was encircled to make sure that the machine had not landed on the ice, and everything possbile was done. Whaling men particularly are fitted for such work, as their eyes are trained to pick up the smallest object on the sea at a great distance. The oKosmos continued the search for a fortnight before finally abandoning hope. The general impression in the whaling fleet is that extreme temperatures may have weakened the struts and stays of the machine, which collapsed in mid-air.