New Britain herald., 1919-05-27
HAWKER EXPLAINS
 HOW HE LOST OUT
Clouds Hindered Flight, Then
 Engine Went Bad

London, May 27.-The correspond. ent of the Daily Mail who is travelling with Harry G. Hawker and Lieut. Commander Mackenzie Grieve on their way to this city sends from In verness, Scotland, a detailed account of the difficulties encountered by the two airmen during their unsuccessful attempt to fly across the Atlantic
 During the first four hours of the voyage, the air was freezing cold, but the airmen were quite comfortable Hawker, however, vas unable to steer a good course because of the clouds being at times forced to go around them.
 When about 500 miles out to sea the weather continued very bad and clouds rose to great heights Several times Hawker tried to clear them but lost height at every attempt and each time the machine was started climbing the water in the radiator boiled furi- ously which involved waste
 At last, however the airplane reached q height of ,00O feet and it was decided to stay at the level for the rest of the trip.
 I've had not yet doubted being suc- cessful in getting across,'' HawKer i said in describing his experience. I've were at that time above most of the clouds. The moon had risen and we were keeping a good course, althougtf we had to go q little slower and close the throttle to keep the water from heating up.
 We continued at this height until we had been in the air 2 1-2 hours. Then came heavy clouds again. They were very high, reaching a level of 15,0O0 feet and being very black. It was almost impossible to steer through them and each time I tried. to climb the water boiled badly
 HaWker then described his efforts to find the cause of the trouble with the water cooling system and said that he concluded something had got into the water filter between the radiator l and the pumps and that the only
 thing to do was to stop the motor and , put the nose of the machine down steeply with the hope that this might i clear away the refuse in the filter. This was successful.
 About an hour later, however, the i filter again gave trouble and it was decided to fly toward the transatlantic l steamer route. After more than two hours of flying a steamer was sighted which proved to be the Mary. Haw- ker dropped signal lights which were 1 answered by the steamer. The ayi- ators descended about two miles ahead of the steamer. The sea was very rough and the Danish crew at great risk to themselves, finally res- Cued the aviators after go minutes. They were picked up at S:30 a- n1., l Greenwich time, Monday, May 19. ] Describing his reception on the Mary i Hawker said that Captain Dunn said to him: '" {,
 Another hour and you would have 1 gone down."
 Hawker said the captain thought the aviators were Americans. The l rescued men were struck with the cas-
 ual manner in which the captain took the whole business as if it were an 1 every day affair to take airmen out : of the Atlantic. The aviators asked the captain his bearings and what i likelihood there was of meeting a ship, and getting into the main route of steamers At that time the captain | thought there was a very good chance i of sighting a ship with wireless at any l moment.
 Monday night the storm got worse 1 and the Mary had to heave to, nnak- i ing about one knot an hour in a northerly direction. This took the 1 steamer off the shipping route and lessened the chance of making an- i other ship.
 | Hawker said that he and Grieve slept or tried to sleep most of the | time They drank tea and read the captains English books. They saw the lighthouse a,t St Kilda. but were unable to communicate with land uTi- til the ship reached the Butte of Lewis. ''I want to emphasize" Hawker told the correspondent, that the fault was not due to the motor, which was re- liable in every way, running satisfac- torily from start to finish. Even after , all the water had boiled away, the ! motor was still running merrily, al- 1 though it was red hot when we alight- ed on the water"
 The correspondent adds that there were amazing scenes on the trip through the Scottish highlands to h. i verness. At every station women ! threw flowers and kisses to the res i cued aviators and men clung to the train and sought to enter it while it was moving. Hawker and Grieve ! shook hands with hundreds in a cheering crowd which had invaded ! the Inverness station.
 On their arrival at Inverness the | aviators received a telegram from King George inviting them to Buck ingham Palace on "Wednesday.