Moncrieff and Hood disappearance

Lieutenant John Moncrieff John Robert Moncrieff was a New Zealander by adoption, being born at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands on 22 September 1894. Educated at Leith Academy in Scotland, he emigrated to New Zealand early at the age of 16 and trained as a motor engineer. He enlisted in the armed forces in December 1917, and took a flying course with the Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company at the Sockburn aerodrome (later renamed Wigram Aerodrome). Qualifying for his wings after the 1918 Armistice brought an end to the First World War, he resumed his former position as second in charge in a motor garage in Wellington. Captain George Hood George Hood was born on 24 June 1891 in Masterton, the principal town of the Wairarapa district in the south-eastern part on the North Island of New Zealand. Educated in Masterton, he was the son of a local farmer and was fascinated with flying from boyhood. The First World War provided the opportunity for him to become an aviator. Leaving New Zealand in 1914 as a sergeant with the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Squadron of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, Hood transferred to the Army Service Corps in Egypt. He saw service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt and France. At the end of 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, qualifying as a service pilot on 13 October 1917. Thirteen days later he was seriously injured in a crash while flying a DH5, which resulted in his lower right leg being amputated. Despite this he maintained an interest in aviation, and took every opportunity to continue flying on his return to New Zealand. ==Trans-Tasman attempt==

Planning Moncrieff had been wanting to fly the Tasman Sea for some time. In 1925, the Southland Times newspaper announced that Moncrieff was to "attempt a flight from Australia to New Zealand in a four-seater, 450 hp open-sea reconnaissance machine made by William Beardmore and Company". It was estimated about £8,500 would be needed to purchase the aircraft and to cover expenses, but little came of this proposal and Moncreiff's project lapsed for the time being. in June, lieutenants Lester J. Maitland and Albert Hergenberger flew from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii in a three-engined Fokker C-2 named "Bird of Paradise". Then, in October, Captain Dieudonne Costes and Lieutenant Commander Joseph Le Brix flew across the South Atlantic from Senegal to Port Natal in Brazil in a single-engined Breguet XIX. These flights raised aviation's profile and generated considerable interest among the general public. After Lindbergh's flight, Moncrieff again proposed a trans-Tasman flight. On gaining some financial backing from an uncle, Moncrieff secured the assistance of Captain Ivan Kight, a well-known barrister and solicitor from Dannevirke, a rural town in the Tararua District. Kight had qualified as a pilot in 1916 and, like Moncrieff and Hood, was a founding member of the New Zealand Air Force, constituted as part of the Territorial Force in 1923. Kight became heavily involved in raising finance, organising the flight and dealing with the Australian and New Zealand governments. came into the scheme at a later date, finding generous support from people in Wairarapa. It was registered G-AUNZ, thus referencing both countries of departure and destination in its official designation. so a take-off in the early morning hours was necessary to enable a landing in daylight at Trentham Racecourse, the chosen destination in the Hutt Valley north of Wellington. With the aircraft and the crew ready, and the way cleared by the aviation authorities, attention turned to the weather. On the evening of 9 January, conditions were assessed as "particularly favourable" The occurrence of supposed sightings around the time and approximate place of an expected arrival mirrored generally similar events after the first attempted Paris-New York flight by Nungesser and Coli in May 1927, where many reports of sightings were made in North America, and land searches are still carried out from time to time. == Legacy ==

The Aotearoa was the first aircraft to go missing in or near New Zealand. While other aircraft had crashed, until Moncrieff and Hood's flight, none were lost without trace. In 1931, the Masterton aerodrome was renamed Hood Aerodrome, the name it still bears today. A number of streets throughout New Zealand are named "Moncrieff" or "Hood" as memorials to the pioneers. == The first successful flight ==

On 11 September 1928 two Australians, Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, achieved what Hood and Moncrieff had died attempting, when they landed the Southern Cross at Wigram, Christchurch. ==See also==