POSTED MISSING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 October 1940, Page 6

POSTED MISSING

PLANE FROM HOBSONVILLE / LAST SEEN BETWEEN MOKAU AND NEW PLYMOUTH. FLIGHT IN BAD WEATHER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, September 30. Three members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force stationed at Ohakea are missing in an Airspeed Oxford monoplane which is believed to have been forced down in the Mokau district, north of New Plymouth, this afternoon. A machine, supposedly the missing one, was last seen flying in heavy mist and rain near the coast, heading south in the direction of the white cliffs at Pukearuhe, and there had been no further trace of it up to a late hour tonight. The crew of the machine are:— Flying Officer Harry Nalder Major, single, aged 29, son’ of the late Mr C, T. Major, former headmaster of King’s College, Auckland. His next-of-kin is his sister, living at Tuakau. Flight Sergeant Sheldon Benton Smith, single, aged 25, son of Mr and Mrs Henry Smith, Grange Road, Mount Eden, Auckland. Corporal Raymond B. Smith, single, aged 23, whose next-of-kin is his sister, Mrs C. T. Morgan, Miramar, Wellington. Flying Officer Major was the pilot, being an instructor at Ohakea aerodrome, where his companions are members of the ground staff. All spent the weekend in Auckland and left Hobsonville air base at 11.45 a.m. Another aeroplane also set out and encountered bad weather and restricted visibility along the West Coast as they made south. Flying Officer Major’s machine was some distance ahead when the other turned back and returned to Auckland, where it arrived safely. An aeroplane answering the description of the missing Oxford was seen at Mokau at about 1 p.m. It was flying south at a low altitude and according to a young man in the district it was apparently experiencing engine trouble, as the engine appeared to cut out. Later, it is reported, an aeroplane was observed flying northward and shortly afterward again making south. It seemed to be the same machine. It was last seen at about 1.30 p.m. just south of Tongaporutu, on the coast, midway between Mokau and New Plymouth. The machine was very low, flying near the coast and heading south in the direction of the white cliffs at Pukearuhe. Inquiries made by the police at Mokau among farmers along the coast failed to give any indication of the whereabouts of the aeroplane, which carried sufficient petrol for about five hours’ flying. A search is being conducted in the locality where the aeroplane was last seen. Flight-Sergeant Smith was associated with the Air Force several years ago, and later was employed as assistant ground engineer by Cook Strait Airways, Limited.’ At the outbreak of war he was drafted from the Civil Reserve into the Air Force as a ground engineer. Corporal Smith has been a member of the Air Force for two years. EXTENDED SEARCH NUMBER OF PLANES TAKING PART. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day. Three Airspeed Oxfords left the Hobsonville Air Base at six o’clock this morning to search for the airmen missing in the Taranaki district. Owing to bad weather,; one.-machine returned to Auckland. The other two landed at New Plymouth. The Auckland planes will search the area north of New Plymouth, while planes from Ohakea will search other areas. The search will be continued as soon as the weather improves. A report received in Auckland states that a plane which might have been the missing plane was seen over Patea at two o’clock yesterday afternoon