Evening star., 1947-09-25
Rome
Continued From First PageD

miles from base, for q projected
trail party.
1t develops that the Auster landed
and began stalking out strip with
orange trail flags for the MANA ,,
But the American plane was flying
SO high, it did not see the strip on
the small plane. The Britons lit a
red smoke bomb, but the Morse
man had already gone over the area.
A little later, the MANA" few
back, but when she continued in
the direction of the base, the crew
Of the Auster realized they had not
been seen. Since the overcast was
closing in fast, they quickly readied
for takeoff themselves.
The overcast closed in around
them few minutes after they were
airborne. They had to fly blind on
instrumnetS, particularly difficult
undertaking in the Antarctic. Pilot
w. H. Thompson became slightly
turned around and, of two possible
hills he could use for guidance, he
picked the wrong one. Realizing his
mistake too late, Mr.. Thompson
headed in the direction of Mar
guerite Bay, having decided to set
the plane down as soon as possible,
spend the night where they landed,
and make the base of the following
day.
But by the time the men in the
Auster reached bay ice, visibility was
down to 100 yards In landing, the
plane hit rough break in the ice
and one ski was broken off. At a
landing speed of 20 miles per hour,
this toppled the craft over, ripped a
wing off and broke the ships back
The three men were shaken up, but
we're not injured
Pitch Tent BY Plane.
They Immediately pitched a tent
beside the plane and tried to con-
tact the base on their small radio.
The transmitter was damaged and
would not function; but they were
able to hear the base calling them.
This continued until the following
morning. when the batteries went
dead.
The day after the crash, the three
Britons removed the Austers belly
tank and turned it into a man
hauled sled for their emergency gear.
They knew their approximate posi-
ton and realized how long it would
take them to walk back, SO they went
on a ration of 600 calories day
each. They had little hope of rescue.
since they were well off course
Progress was painfully slow. The
men were wading through knee
deep slush and battling blizzards
of go and 80 miles per hour. At
the end of fifth day of walking
they sighted a seal. They were too
weak to kill it Immediately, so
they rested a few minutes, and
then. while one man threw snow
in the seals eyes to divert it, an
other stole up behind and killed
it with blow over the head. They
ate the liver, raw but still warm,
and promptly felt new strength.
Search is Extensive.
Meanwhile. an extensive search
network had been established, the
personnel of both bases acting uh-
der Maj. K. S. Pierce-Butler, leader
of the British Expedition (Base E
of the Falkland Islands Dependcies
Survey. The large Norseman plane,
MANA. of the Rome group
searched independently and also
supplied a field search base from
which the smaller American plane,
Stinson LIS, was operating. The
two radio operators maintained q
24-hour watch.
High winds during the last two
days had grounded both the LIS
and the MANA. but this morn
ing the larger ship took off for the
field search base at Mobiloil Bay. At
noon (New York time) the Morse
man returned to the Rome base
to- pick up supplies and fuel and.
20 minutes after this plane took
off again. thev reported hv radio