The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-05-28
KING DECORATES
.HAWKER AND AID
WITH AIR CROSS
Daring Airmen Received at
Palace Machinery and De-
fectiye Wireless Blamed
(By Associated Press,


LONDON, May 28.-Harry G. Hawk
er and Lieut.. Commander Mackenzie
Grieve, who reached here yesterday
rescued in mid-ocean when their air.
plane In which they were attempting
to cross the Atlantic alighted near
the Danish steamer Mary, were re-
ceived by King George at Buckingham
Palace this morning.
King George bestowed on Hawker
and Grieve the insignia of the air
force cross. They are the first actual
recipients of this order.
The Sopwith airplane driven by
Hawker on his unsuccessful attempt
to fly across the Atlantic, started from
st. Johns with gasoline supply Of
$40 gallons. Half this amount had
been used when the airplane alighted
| In the sea near the Danish tramp
| steamer Mary.
Wireless Perfection Urged.
In talking Of the voyage, Lieut.. Com
mander Mackenzie Grieve said today
| that in his opinion the future of AERIAL
| navigation lies in the perfection of
wireless equipment for airplanes, by
which the machines may be guided
| Describing weather conditions and
how his airlane ran into strong
northeasterly winds, Hawker said to
a representative of the Daily Mail:
| THE weather was no hindrance and
we should have made the flight but
for the trouble occasioned by the wa
ter boiling in our cooling system. We
could have got through the worst of
the weather in couple of hours
The wireless was not a great sue
cess" Lieut.. Commander Mackenzie
Grieve said. 1--WE had a new set from
England but a trial flight with it was
impossible owing to the danger of risk
ing the machine on the limited air
drome space. On starting we found
the spark very feeble and only a small
amporage obtainable, owing to the un-
idersized propeller used to drive it. ]
sent out messages every half hour and
think they should have been heard If
any ship had been near but never had
any reply. My chief object was to let
them know we were still In the air
During the last few hours when the
engine was throttled down, the speed
OF the machine was insufficient to
drive the wireless equipment and nc
spark could be generated but sent IS
o. s.. signals every fifteen minutes on
an off chance of the spark operating
Navlgated BY Stars
From navigating point Of view
placed no reliance on the WireIes:
other than as means of asking thu
positions OF such ships as we nigh
pass. The ships had previously beer
asked by wireless from st. Johns tt
make known their positions il the,
saw us by day or If we fired Var,
| oh RS hryy ifrI,k =,
no light was fired. One vessel ha
reported having seen a light but tn,
. observers on board may have deserted
the red glow from the exhaust.
I'VE preferred to navigate chiefl,
. by celestial observations and my DC
. !. sition as I worked 1t out by the stars
was virtually correct, / found, whel
picked up. / used a cloud horizon In
|. stead of a sea horizon as the sea wa
hardly visible any Of the time w
were in the air. During the first fou
hours after leaving we passed over fo,
banks. The clouds below were lik
a sea, giving perfect horizon I ha
. only to judge our distance above then
. and take the sun as on a sea hor-
!, zon. About o'clock Greenwich time
: saw the sea for a few second
through hole in the fog or clou
bank. / obtained some idea Of tn
drift OF the machine by noting tn
breaking waves through the drift in
! dicator. We were then at a height q
: 1000 feet and climbing, the drift be
. ing ten degrees to the right OF -ou
: course. which l had already allowe
= for on starting. owing to the nortI
= east wind that was blowing.
Up to 1918 o'clock we steered t
make true east course, not magneti
east. During that period took sight
: every hour. AT 1915 l made out tha
! we were four hundred miles from S.
= Johns. We then altered our cours
!. to north 73 degrees east true. to kee
= = in the track of ships, which we shoul
: just have entered at that time. Th
! clouds were badly broken up an
= made sights impossible until 1:3
= when managed to get the Pole sta
, down to fiat piece of cloud and wa
surprised to find we were about Is
miles south of the course. We imm,
diately altered our course a little t
the northward to counteract this dri
but from a further sight obtained ha
an hour later l found we were sti
settling southwark, and, realizing ths
4 very strong northerly gale mus
have been blowing, made a decided a
teration to the northward and worke
the machine up to latitude so degree
north and into the track followed
L ships"
n nIekpIE FIGHTERS