The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-22
PLIERS WILL STAKE
ALL ON MACHINES
Hawker's Failure Causes st.
Johns Aviators to Alter
Plans.
WIN OR DIE, is RULE
Inflated Suits and Collapsible
Boats Proved Of Little
Value.
sn.einl D..pnteh 70 Tn. SUE.


sT. JoHN,s, N. r., May Ala change
! has been made in the plans Of some OF
the transatlantic fiiers here BY the death
of Harry Hawker now believed certain
" drowned in the Atlantic with his
navigator, Lieutenant-Co Mac
kensie Grieve.
THIS is that since the inflated suits
and collapsble boat carried by the
fiiers apparently failed them 1t Is use
less for the other aspirants to trans
ocean risht honors 10 carry them. 1he
grim silence following the disappear
ance Of the Sopwith biplane over the
. eastern horizon has convinced the re-
naming fiiers that they are In game
where they win or die.
: Capt. John Alcock who, with Lieut..
Arthur Written Brown. an American
fiier. will make the attempt In Vimy-
vickens bomber with two engines. said
Z to-day that he would not clutter up his
machine with life saving devices. hut
that he would probably wear an inhat-
able vest. which would also help keep
him warm during the trip. He expects
his machine to arrive here by steam
ship to-day or tomorrow. Capt. AL
cock is not superstitious. He has &C.
.ected the flying field on Mount Pearl
Plateau, from which Hawker flew to
death, as his base at st. Johns.
VIII Have a.44e Mile Radius.
From there he will ny light to Harbor
Grace. where he will take on full load
Of s65 gallons OF gasolene and start on
the trip He estimates his gas supply
will give him a radius of flight OF 1,fto
miles.
Instead of eliminating one contestant
AZ % Ern1 nil
may have added two. The Martinsyde
plane in which Raynham and Capt.
Charles Morgan attempted to follow
Hawker Is now being repaired. but Capt.
Morgan will not fly in 1t, as he con-
elders the attempt unsafe in so bat
tired an aircraft.
Capt. Morgan denied to-day indig-
nantlv tho assertion Of doctors that his
flying days were over as the result OF
injuries he received in the fall. He has
been told MS flying days were over be-
fore, including once during the war,
when he lost a leg as he result of an
aerial encounter. but he Is sim flying
IIe announced to-day that he would
make an effort on his recovery to OBJ
tain another plane and start an indie
pendent Night for the British Isles.
Raynham to-day cabled the Martin
syde builders that he needed another
navigator. He also stated that the dam
age done by the crash would necessitat h
practically the building from spare paris
Of another plane here in country which
lacks both materials and men skilled II
airplane production. Raynham will
carry no boat.
At least two teams OF undaunted iii.
ers. the vimy-Viekers and Handley-P ag'
outfits, are making vigorous efforts .
get their planes In shape for take-oc
At the timc OF the next full moon, tnre'
weeks hence.
Bomber to Fly Soon.
1t Is probable that the Handley Pag,
superbomber seaplane now being as
. sembled at Hayhor Grace will be in the
air for test flights within ten days. Hell
chief pilot IL Vice-Admiral Mark Kerr
England's oldest naval flier, 81 year:
old He has announced that the Hand
ley Page will take the air even II some
other contestant crosses the Atlantic
hrst as the principal object Of the jour
ney IL not to win the $50. 900 offered by
the Daily Mail, but to gather scientific
data concerning ocean aerial currents.
Theories of the fate OF Hawker con
tinue to he advanced here to account
for the d appearance of the Sopwltt
biplane. Some of the fiiers account 70!
the lack of news concerning him afte
he left Newfoundland by suggesting thai
his heavily loaded airplane dropped
early In the flight. possibly before II:
motor was sufficiently warmed up u
e1rry the great weight
Capt. Fem of the Sopwith compan,
I alone clings to the hope that the meT
are still alive. He thinks the air filled
J petrol tanks of the machine would keeI
! II ahoat for some time, although there
Is no proof that the tanks were not stil
Z hlled with gasoline when the flyers fell
HE also expresses some confidence II
the fragile boat they carried. Befor,
the Sopwith was more than fifty mile.
from shore Capt Fem sent wireless
messages of farewell to them, but M
response came
Complaints against the services o.
the meteorological division OF the Brit
tsh air force on which the flyers rel,
for weather news have been redoublet
since Hawker and Grieve left here OF
Saturday II was declared that tn
division was responsible for a delay o
five hours in relaying to this poln
storm warnings which might hav,
I caused Hawker to postpone his flight
His death may have resulted from tn,
storm or the Irish coast, which devel