NEW AIRCRAFT SMASHED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 145, 1 April 1948, Page 4

NEW AIRCRAFT SMASHED

Torn from Moorings by Gale CLARENCE RIVER MISHAP (P.A.) BLENHEIM, March 31. . Torn from its moorings by a gale during the week-end the Marlborough Aero Club’s new three-passenger Fox Moth aeroplane was blown over a cliff at the Bluff sheep station , and was so severely damaged that it is doubtful if it can be repaired. The Bluff homestead is one of the must isolated in Marlborough’s mountainous back country and news of the mishap was received last night after Mrs Roberts, wife of the manager, had reached the telephone at Kekerangu after 24 hours' ride down the Clarence Valley. The aeroplane had been picketed down on a landing ground near the homestead awaiting the arrival of parts from Canada to make small repairs after it had tipped on its nose through the seizing of brakes in a landing on March 7. Three half-inch ropes from each lower wing and a wire from the tail were broken by a gust. The aeroplane was blown over fences and scrub and finished up on a terrace 150 feet below the airfield with the tail unit broken," all four wmga crumpled, the petrol tank smashed, and the fuselage and undercarriage damaged. The machine is insured for its full value of about £2500.

The club is most affected by the loss of revenue from passenger flying, ror which the machine was brought In an effort to make up a deficit on instructional work.