Monday, June 20, 2011

Contacting the experts

Over the past few months some interesting people have viewed and commented on my blog. These people include Dr. Charles Eaton (the son of GpCpt Charles "Moth" Eaton) and Mrs Sally Douglas (daughter of GpCpt Eric Douglas) who were the men who found Anderson and Hitchcock in the Tanimi Desert and buried them where they lay beside their aircraft. Dr. Charles Eaton and Sally Douglas have provided a great deal of personal information from their father's diaries and log books. In 1929 "Moth" Eaton was a Flt Lt pilot and Eric Douglas was a Sgt pilot in the RAAF. "Moth" Eaton was incharge of five DH9A bi-planes sent to fly from Laverton RAAF to search for Anderson in the northern parts of Australia.

According to their log books they flew for up to five hours per day in very harsh conditions logging about 50 hrs flying for the whole trip. The aircraft had lots of spare parts and five mechanics to keep them flying. However it is worth noting that of the five aircraft three were destroyed or damaged beyond repair during the mission and only two returned to Point Cook. Even with all that support they lost most of their planes, so what chance did Anderson and Hitchcock have trying to do this on their own... None!!

No comments:

Post a Comment