False Hopes and Hoaxes
For the families of Captain Hinchliffe and Elsie Mackay the number of false sightings that began to be reported in the news must have been agony, giving rise to hopes that were repeatedly dashed. The desire for their success meant that many people were genuinely mistaking objects and sounds for the missing plane. A fireman and engineer of a train in New reported seeing a plane passing over shortly after 1am on the Wednesday morning (14th) while another sighting at Old Orchard in Maine started an even stronger rumour that the flight had succeeded leading to some newspapers reporting that the flyers were safe. An hotel keeper had telephoned the coast guard to say that she'd seen a yellowish light on one of the small islands and two people moving around. But an inspection by the coastguard found the island deserted and no sign of the plane or its occupants. Another report of a plane passing overhead in Halifax, Nova Scotia was later established to have been simply the sound of a heavy motor lorry.
In Boston several hundred people reported hearing the sound of a powerful aeroplane heading towards New York. Beacons were lit and flares fired at the East Boston Airport while newspaper offices were bombarded with calls from witnesses who had definitely heard the sound of a Wright Whirlwind engine. A veteran flyers and air correspondent, George Hamblin believed he had recognised the unmistakeable sound of the plane passing over his home in Massachusetts. Flash reports frequently led to crowds rushing to small airfields in such numbers that the police were kept busy either controlling the rush or being asked to follow up other sightings. But a reporter with The Times in London dismissed the rumours saying they were not to be trusted as none of the 21 ships travelling along the probable course had seen any sign of the plane. "Only the faintest belief exists that have escaped disaster," he wrote.
Friends and family of Captain Hinchliffe refused to give up all hope though. His mother was bouyed by a vision she'd had of him flying low over the ocean and being confronted by a white cloud, which was viewed as a good omen, while his father had dreamt vividly of his son reaching America with a woman companion. Pilots found it hard to believe that their old friend, "a hero of a hundred aerial exploits in war and peace" had been "conquered by death." Somewhat poetically one journalist in an American paper wrote "Nature's Triad - air, sea and land - hold fast one of the most engrossing aviation mysteries of all time." In the Adelaide Chronicle one aviation expert said that if Captain Hinchliffe was "down in the sea it is not through an error in flying. His experience in fog and mist is unequalled. He must have been beaten by factors over which he had not control. When I reminded him that snow and ice sitting on his wings might force him down he replied, 'Yes that's a snag and the one point I have not obtained data. There are none available. If that happens I shall just plod on. Mr Levine told me he was forced down close to the ocean but I don't know, I have left nothing else to chance.'" But as the hours passed and all the sightings proved false it was becoming clear that something had happened to the brave flyers.
In Boston several hundred people reported hearing the sound of a powerful aeroplane heading towards New York. Beacons were lit and flares fired at the East Boston Airport while newspaper offices were bombarded with calls from witnesses who had definitely heard the sound of a Wright Whirlwind engine. A veteran flyers and air correspondent, George Hamblin believed he had recognised the unmistakeable sound of the plane passing over his home in Massachusetts. Flash reports frequently led to crowds rushing to small airfields in such numbers that the police were kept busy either controlling the rush or being asked to follow up other sightings. But a reporter with The Times in London dismissed the rumours saying they were not to be trusted as none of the 21 ships travelling along the probable course had seen any sign of the plane. "Only the faintest belief exists that have escaped disaster," he wrote.
Friends and family of Captain Hinchliffe refused to give up all hope though. His mother was bouyed by a vision she'd had of him flying low over the ocean and being confronted by a white cloud, which was viewed as a good omen, while his father had dreamt vividly of his son reaching America with a woman companion. Pilots found it hard to believe that their old friend, "a hero of a hundred aerial exploits in war and peace" had been "conquered by death." Somewhat poetically one journalist in an American paper wrote "Nature's Triad - air, sea and land - hold fast one of the most engrossing aviation mysteries of all time." In the Adelaide Chronicle one aviation expert said that if Captain Hinchliffe was "down in the sea it is not through an error in flying. His experience in fog and mist is unequalled. He must have been beaten by factors over which he had not control. When I reminded him that snow and ice sitting on his wings might force him down he replied, 'Yes that's a snag and the one point I have not obtained data. There are none available. If that happens I shall just plod on. Mr Levine told me he was forced down close to the ocean but I don't know, I have left nothing else to chance.'" But as the hours passed and all the sightings proved false it was becoming clear that something had happened to the brave flyers.
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