Evening star., 1927-11-24
GILES IS REBUKED
FOR CONTROVERSY
Flyers Backer Warns
Against Weather Bureau Dis.
pute and Demands Action,
By the Associated Press.


SAN FRANCISCO. November %
With his financial hackers in Detroit
demanding performance instead of
cheap and vulgar publicity" and
weather Bureau officials here dis.
counting his story of narrow escape
from bad flying weather at sea dur.
ing an attempt to fly to Honolulu.
Capt. Frederick A. Giles. British avia.
tor. was back here today defending
himself against criticism and making
plans to take off again on his pro.
posed Golden Gate-New Zealand fight.
Giles left here early Tuesday, os-
tensibly for Honolulu. his first stop
en- route to New Zealand. but turned
up later that day in San Luis Obispo
County, about 400 miles south of here.
whence he telephoned to Los Angeles
announcing that his plane had nar-
rowly escaped being wrecked in an
"air pocket" 4S0 miles off the Cali
fornia shore. After the mishap. he
said he had dumped out most of his
gasoline and turned back.
Weather Service Halted.
Mai F. Fl. Bowie of the Weather
at sea to the effect that there had
| been no storm near where Giles said
| he found one. Bowie further an.
nounced that the bureau had ceased
| to give weather forecas SITS to Giles
on the ground that he had failed TO
cooperate with it
| Giles gave an interview to the As.
sociated Press on arrival here last
night and then denied himself TO
visitors later.
You can quote me as saying that
as foreigner to this country 7 am
| thoroughly disgusted with the action
of local Weather Bureau officials. who
took advantage of my absence from
San Francisco by issuing statements
in which they declared that atmos-
| pheric conditions that forced me
back were Simply impossible he
declared.
"In the first place. I never described
| the foul weather conditions encounter
ed at sea as a storm in the sense one
usually refers to a storm. The air
conditions that caused my plane to
upset would not be observed by ships.
nor could they be charted on any
weather map, I did not fall in a squalI
Says Plane Dropped.
"At the time OF my bump l was fly
/ ing at about 1000 feet / was be-
tween two layers of clouds. and at
! times 1t was misty. l suddenly felt
the ship drop straight down. 7 had
no control of her | passed through
the low strata of clouds. hanging des-
perately onto the stick. Charts. food
and other loose articles in the cockpit
were falling out. The engine sput-
tered. All / could think about was to
hang on to something. so 1 hung on
to the stick.
"Just as I pulled out be CIV the
clouds / saw the sea beneath me- and
then the plane completed the loop.
had throttled the engine dow n during
the Fall, and now the motor started to
pick up"
Giles described his flight to land.
aided by strong tail winds. and his
landing with about 10 gallons of gaso.
line left. To remarks by 7. r. Reed.
aviator at present with the Weather
Bureau. to the effect that "A sani-
! tarium is the only place for an avia-
tor who couldn't fly safely through
the weather prevailing at sea yester-
day" Giles. retorted that he believes
| he had between 1900 and 4 40D0 flying
hours experience, besides having been
| credited with downing several enemy
| planes and balloons during the World
| War.
Giles could not be reached for COM
ment on vigorously worded telegram
from his hacker. w. H. Rosewarne
of Detroit. which reproved the flyer
for the controversy with the Weather
Bureau. and declaring such byplay
vas mot in the interest of good sports
manship." The telegram asked Giles
to ''get back to Frisco, check her over
and get ready to go again"
Rosewarne. wealthy contractor and
native Of New Zealand, said he
backed the venture to stimulate avi-
alton in that country.