Her Curtain-Rod Saved
pp. 29-30 · Read in the full issue
The Plane
WHEN Pilot Captain Leslie Davis was bringing in a twin engined DH Dove (Mandated Airlines) from Wewak to Lae (New Guinea) on August 19, he dis covered that the pneumatic system would not lower the undercarriage.
A fellow-pilot, Jack Stammer, and Mrs. Stammer, were aboard, and Pilot Stammer worked on the problem, while Davis kept on flying around. They finally got the wheels down, but the nose wheel would not lock. They tried every thing.
Then Stammer hacked his way through the cockpit floor and bored through the wall of the nose wheel section. With a 6 ft piece of con duit his wife had bought in Wewak for a curtain rod he forced the wheel into position. It was the only thing on board that could have reached the wheel.
They had been flying around for two hours. All emergency plant to deal with crashes was awaiting them on the airfield. They came in to a perfect landing, amid cheers, with five minutes’ fuel left.
Mr. Oscar Nordman, of Tahiti, arrived in Sydney on September 19, on a short visit.