# The New York Times/1929/10/24/London Fears Flier is Lost

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LONDON FEARS FLIER IS LOST.
Croydon Airdrome Authorities Post Diteman as “Missing.”
Wireless to The New York Times.
CROYDON, England, Oct. 25.—Urban Diteman, the flying cowboy from Montana, has been swallowed up in an unbroken silence over the Atlantic and tonight was officially posted as “missing” at Croydon Airdrome.
Grave fears were expressed that he has perished on his attempted flight from Newfoundland to London, thus becoming the eighteenth on the list of fliers who have been lost over the ocean.
Not a single report has come from Diteman from the time he hopped off at Harbor de Grace yesterday afternoon leaving a note saying he was bound to England. From dawn till after dark during a bleak, cloudy day, a watch was kept by ships at sea and the lookout stations throughout the British isles, but each told the same story, "no sign of him".
Southwesters Ireland was shrouded in rain and mist at noon when he was due to fly over the coast. Londoners looked at the cloudy sky afternoon, but in vain. At 4 o'clock this afternoon he was long overdue and his twenty-five-hour supply of gasoline should have been almost exhausted. At 5 o'clock his limit was reached and among the thousands of hurrying city workers, who snapped up the evening newspapers to see if he had landed, hope was virtually abandoned.
A cold wind whipped across the landing field at Croydon late in the afternoon when Diteman was expected. Every monoplane that swooped down upon the airdrome was thought to be Diteman's until it landed and the watchers saw they were wrong. At 5 o'clock the lights on the hangers were switched on and searchlights swept the sky.
The airdrome officials were doing all they could in case Diteman had crossed Ireland into England unnoticed, but they were hoping against hope.
There are only two chances in a thousand that Diteman is still safe. He may have landed in the sea near a passing steamer, like Harry Hawker in 1919, and Captain Frank Courtney last year, Another possibility, but less remote, is that he was blown off his course and landed on the inaccessible west coast of Scotland or in Norway.
The wind over the ocean veered to a southerly direction during the morning and might have easily have buffeted the little monoplane forward. In such a contingency news might not reach the outside world for a day or two, but it is a long chance.
Diteman had unfavorable weather almost from the start of his daring attempt to follow Lindbergh's lone path across the ocean, The haze thickened into a fog off Newfoundland and the cold was so extreme it may have coated the Golden Hind's wings with ice. A strong northerly wind was blowing and with Diteman’s heavy fuel load and relatively low horsepower, he must have been in difficulties.
According to the meteorological experts of the Air Ministry, the Atlantic wind freshened to gale force directly in the path of Diteman's speeding plane.
Even if he had come through the storm, it is pointed out that he may have lost his direction flying through the darkness and dived into the sea, as Captain Frank Courtney almost did on his fight last year. Although his plane carried no wireless it may have been sighted by a ship, but all captains reported that they had not seen or heard him.
Rumors Heighten Anxiety.
For London it was a day of rumors. Early in the afternoon came a report that he had landed somewhere on the west coast of England, This message, indefinite as it was was cabled to the United States, then recabled here, and it led to anxious inquiries to all coast towns from Blackpool to Cardiff.
Later a more definite message came stating that he had landed at Galway, Ireland, This, it was discovered, was a garbled version of the message sent by an overzealous Galway travel agent, who said that Diteman had intended to land at Galway and thus start the Western Irish city on its career as an Atlantic air terminal.
These rumors and others like them, however, proved to be to be what psycholocists call wishful thinking. Every one hoped that Diteman would land safely, but the rumors were all denied and silence enfolded the flying cowboy and his plane.
Aviators Disapprove Attempt.
If Diteman is lost, he becomes the eighteenth to die on Atlantic flight attempts, Although England is interested in his flight as a sporting venture and although Diteman would have had a warm welcome here there is an attitude of disapproval in the comments of aviators on Diteman’s attempt.
For the past two years the British aviation world has felt that such flights could have no commercial or scientific value and that they were mere gambles with human life for the sake of glory or notoriety. For all its daring, Diteman’s attempt will hardly encourage the British to change their opinion.