LATHAM KILLED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 101, 14 September 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

LATHAM KILLED.

RUSHED BY BUFFALO IN AFRICA. A NOTABLE CAREER. FIRST AIRMAN. TO TRY CONQUEST OF CHANNEL. M. Hubert Latham, one of the most popular French aviators, has met his death at the age of 32 whilst hunting big game in equatorial Africa. The details of .his death are as yet meagre, for it is only known that while he was out With a party of hunters on June 7, at : the confluence of the Bahr Salamet and the Cliuri, 30 miles north of Fort Archamhault, he was attacked and killed by a ! wild buffalo. The news, which first i reached Paris from Brazzaville, has been confirmed by the French Ministry of Colonies. Bora in Paris, M. Latham received a French education, which 'he completed by a course of study at Oxford. He came of a Lancashire family on his fathers' side and through his mother was related; to the German Chancellor, Herr von BethmannHollweg. He was a man of considerable means, and spent his money and leisure freely in the' attempt to solve the problem of air conquest. ' M. .Latham's first acquaintance with the air was made in a spherical balloon on a trip from London to Paris, with his cousin,./M. Jaques Faure, who, by a curious coincidence, was killed last year while hunting. M. Latham took up aviation in March, 1909, gaining hie apprenticeship as pilot with a trip on an Antoinette monoplane. In the following June 'he suddenly announced that he was going to fly across the Channel. For weeks he made quiet preparations a>t Sangatte, and on the morning of July 19,- he made his first attempt, and flew seven miles out to sea, where 'he dropped gracefully and floated on the waves like a bird that had been wounded in its flight and was waiting to be rescued. The flight had lasted just seven minutes. When picked-up by the i torpedo-boat Harpon he was calmly i smoking a cigarette When Latham was preparing for a second attempt M. Bleriot made a bold dash across the Channel on July 25, and robbed him of the glory of the first crossing; but to Latham, nevertheless, belonged the credit of having made the first attempt. A week later lie renewed'his effort, and all hut succeeded in crossing the Channel, landing within a mile of the Dover coast. However, he had his revenge on Bleriot in the following month at Rheims, when he carried away a number of prizes, and won, among others, that of the greatest altitude flight, which at t'hat .time was just over 500 ft. His next exploits were at the .Tolianisthal meeting, near Berlin, where he made a daring flight in a storm. Latham afterwards astonished the army officers by his flights during the manoeuvres at Picardy. He next flew at Blackpool, at Heliopolis, at Nice, at Rouen, and at Harve, and was the first to rise to a height of 3000 feet. After his brilliant services at the army man-

oeuvves he was decorated with the Legion of Honor.

There can be no doubt that the finest flight executed by Latham, and probably a feat of aviation that has never been excelled, was his famous battle with a forty-mile gale at Blackpool on October 22. 1909. Latham made a had start, just rising from the ground and coming down heavily. The aeroplane wa6 hauled back to the starting line, and after a brief delay was got off again. But be was in trouble almost immediately. His machine rocked and quivered. After providing a series of thrills for the spectators as he fought his way-, inch by inch, with the wind dead against him, Latham came down as lightly as a bird amidst a great outburst of cheering.

The last occasion on which Latham flew in England was at a Brooklands meeting, where two machines were ready for him. both of the same make. The first one did not rise very well, and the engine failed soon after he started, and lie had an a wkward smash. Then he nonchalantly strollpd over to the second machine, boarded it, and started flying. But the engine of this one w,as also "jibbing." so that on coming round the first time he was sinking as he passed -over the aeroplane sheds. Suddenly, at the critical moment, the machine plunged, the prow breaking right through the roof and the tail of the machine rising till the boat body stood up vertically like a tower. Everybody thought Latham must have been ca«t out, instead of which, when the aeroplane ceased swaying, he undid the strap around his body, slid down the roof, called for his stick, got on board his motor car. and drove off.