New Britain herald., 1928-08-03
COURTNEY LANDS IN BURNING PLANE
(Continued From First Page)

lessly in strong current which was carry them back toward England.
 Sent Out
 When they landed on the water and sent out their sos. calls they gave their position as 42 north lat- itude. 41 west longitude. The Min newaska found them. however. at 42:27 north. 3s:o5 west, almost a hundred miles from their original position and approximately 1,50O miles from New York.
 It was shortly after o'clock.
 It was shortly after o'clock yes- terday morning at the first message came telling fthe fliers' plight. Need immediate help but in no immediate danger" it said.
 Land Near Lane
 They had landed near the south ern steamship lane and many ships hearing their calls for aid turned from their courses toward the posi- tion given.
 The President Hayes was the first to reach the latitude and longitude Captain Courtney had given. and when she reported no sign of the fliers fears were felt that they were lost. The silence of their radio, not Then came the message giving the planes new position and a short time later word from the Minne- waska that she had sighted the whale. The message telling of the rescue came an hour later. Fails Consistently The failure which attended Cap tain Courtney's latest effort to fly the Atlantic is only one of long series of misfortunes which have dogged his footsteps for IS months. ever since he first announced his plans to fly the Atlantic.
 All last summer Courtney vainly attempted to make a direct fligh, from England to Newfoundland, but adverse weather, inability of his old plane to lift full load of fuel from ' the water and other misfortunes f baked his efforts. Late in the sum- mer he changed his plans to in- clude stop at the Azores but was forced down off the Spanish coast in a flight toward Horta from Eng land.
 With the new Dornier- Nal pier | flying boat, in which he was making the latest attempt. he flew from Pisa. Italy, to Lisbon, Portugal, on June IS. this year. Here misfortune again overlook him when a broken water pipe forced him down after two hours flying. The damage re- paired, he again took off on June 2s and flew safely to the Azores, a distance of 1000 miles.
 Radio Trouble
 Radio trouble delayed his start until July 8. but after five hours flying on that day he was forced by adverse weather to turn back tc Horta. Wednesday he again took off. only to fail when less than halt way toward his goal.
 IVu NIIcS dH HOtlf
 The fact that the first SOS was not heard until more than 12 hours after he started his flight led fiers to believe he had probably met storms and adverse winds. His plane had an estimated speed Of 100 miles an hour. but after F hours flying he was only 600 miles from his starting point.
 Captain Courtney is 34 years old married and has one small daugh ter. Turned down time after tim, when he attempted to enlist in the British air forces during the wal because of defective sight he waS finally taken on as a mechanic. H. won pilots license and at the enc Of the war had an enviable recorI for encounters with German airmen After the war he became a test pilot for airplane manufacturer. IT 1923 he won the kings cup after two previous unsuccessful endeav. ors. Since then he has performed ether notable services to aviation ir trying out new devices. He was SC verely injured early in 1927 whil. testing a new type auto-gyro plane READ HERALD CIASSIETEn AnS