Flygarna som försvann: Day och Stewart, Irak, 1924.

Upon July 24, 1924, at a time of Arab hostility, Flight-Lieutenant W. T. Day and Pilot Officer D. R. Stewart were sent from British headquarters, upon an ordinary reconnaissance over a desert in Mesopotamia. According to schedule, they would not be absent more than several hours. I take this account from the London Sunday Express, Sept. 21, 28, 1924.

The men did not return, and they were searched for. The plane was soon found, in the desert. Why it should have landed was a problem. "There was some petrol left in the tank. There was nothing wrong with the craft. It was, in fact, flown back to the aerodrome." But the men were missing. "So far as can be ascertained, they encountered no meteorological conditions that might have forced them to land." There were no marks to indicate that the plane had been shot at. There may be some way, at present very exclusively known, of picking an aeroplane out of the sky. According to the rest of this story, there may be some such way of picking men out of a desert.

In the sand, around the plane, were seen the footprints of Day and Stewart. "They were traced, side by side, for some forty yards from the machine. Then, as suddenly as if they had come to the brink of a cliff, the marks ended."

The landing of the plane was unaccountable. But, accepting that as a minor mystery, the suggested explanation of the abrupt ending of the footprints was that Day and Stewart had been captured by hostile Bedouins, who had brushed away all trails in the sand, starting at the point forty yards from the plane. But hostile Bedouins could not be thought of as keeping on brushing indefinitely, and a search was made for a renewal of traces.

Aeroplanes, armored cars, and mounted police searched. Rewards were offered. Tribal patrols searched unceasingly for four days. Nowhere beyond the point where the tracks in the sand ended abruptly, were other tracks found. The latest account of which I have record is from the London Sunday News, March 15, 1925—mystery of the missing British airmen still unsolved.

MISSING OFFICERS, IRAQ.

HC Deb 08 October 1924 vol 177 c534W534W

Mr. GALBRAITH asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether any information has been received with reference to Pilot-officer Stewart and Lieutenant W. S. Day, who were recently lost in the Iraq desert; and what further steps it is proposed to take in order, if possible, to ascertain what has happened to them?

Mr. LEACH I regret that despite exhaustive search by aircraft, armoured cars, mounted police and some tribal patrols, which continued almost unceasingly for four days following their disappearance, no trace of the two officers could be found, apart from footprints in the immediate vicinity of their aeroplane. This search was finally abandoned on the fourth day. Police and special service officers have since continued to prosecute inquiries in the villages, but no clue has been obtained, and it is feared that the officers have lost their lives. A Court of Inquiry has been held, and its proceedings are now awaited. It is anticipated that these will show that every possible step has been taken to trace the missing officers.