Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 3 April 1929, page 17


WIDGEON TO SEARCH.

DEFENCE DEPARTMENT'S

PLANS.

MELBOURNE, Tuesday.

The Commonwealth Air Board has made arrangements to despatch Wing-Commander L. J. Wackett, In his Widgnon, with the least possible delay, to assist in the search for the crew of the Southern Cross.

This announcement was made by the secre-tary of the Defence Department (Mr. M. L. Shepherd) to-night.

It was hoped, said Mr. Shepherd, that the Widgeon would leave Richmond Aerodrome either to-morrow afternoon or at the latest Thursday morning. Wing-Commander Wackett would probably follow the route of the mach-ines of the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd, and the flight to the north west coast would take from four to five days.

Mr. Shepherd said that the Widgeon had been out of commission while undergoing modifications to enable it to carry out trials on H.M.A.S. Albatross. A special effort was being made to complete the work as quickly as possible, so that the machine would be fit to take the air to-morrow. Further de-tails of the flight were being arranged by the chief of the air staff (Air-Commander R. Wil-liams),