PLANE BUOYS EATEN
MISTAKEN BY CROCODILES FOR FOOD.
Because crocodiles do not seem to know the difference between red rubber and raw meat. Imperial Airways’ Research Department has been obliged to invent a new type of buoy for mooring the flying-boats at Malakal, Kampala, Kisumu, Raj Samand, and other places in Africa and India. The old mooring device was a huge ball of red rubber, anchored by means of hooks at the end of a steel chain. Rubber was used because it was soft and did not damage the hulls of the flying-boats. The buoys were painted red so that they would be visible at a distance.
Several were in use along the Empire routes and they were regarded as eminently satisfactory. But suddenly they started disappearing. Pilots knowing exactly where they were to moor their machines would alight on the water and have nothing to moor to.
Investigations revealed that the buoys, which were hollow, were at the bottom of the lake. Crocodiles, mistaking them, it is said, for raw liver, had chewed holes in them, causing them to sink. A new type to be used is a steel cylinder protected by a semi-pneumatic fender, impervious to the teeth of reptiles.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19380624.2.39
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1938, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
202PLANE BUOYS EATEN Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1938, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Times-Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in