AEROPLANE CRASH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 101, 2 May 1938, Page 9

AEROPLANE CRASH.

INQUEST ON VICTIMS.

TWO WITNESSES DISAGREE. (From Our Correspondent.) HASTINGS, Sunday. Differences of opinion on the movements of the aeroplane at the time were apparent in the evidence of eye-wit-nesses at the inquest into the death of the victims of the aeroplane crash at Crownthorpe, which was held in the Hastings Courthouse. The crash occurred on April 18 and the victims were the pilot, Miss Nellie Arnofrt, of Pakowhai, and her brother, Mr. Robert Bowie Arno.tt, also of Pakowhai. The machine was a Hornet Moth belonging to the Hawke'a Bay and East Coast Aero Club. One eye-witness stated that the aeroplane was flying level and was nowhere near clouds when the wing came off, while the only other eye-witness stated that the wing appeared to come off in a movement following a nose-dive out of a cloud at full throttle. A verdict that the victims died as the result of an aeroplane crash at Crownthorpe was given by the jury. A rider expressing sympathy with the relatives, and expressing thanks to those who so promptly went to the scene of the accident to render assistance, was also added. "It was quite clear to me that the aeroplane was being flown level when ,, the wing collapsed. There was fio diving or stunting," said William Arthur ! Darragh, a farmer at Awapiko, Hastings. "The right wing, looking from the rear of the aeroplane, seemed to crumple and go up above the body of the machine as though it had become disconnected underneath," he said. "The machine then turned toward the ground and as it turned, the engine commenced to roar." Visibility was perfect, the aeroplane being well below high clouds. "The aeroplane entered the cloud and, while it was in the cloud the engine sounded as though it was circling and climbing," said Alexander Walker Whyte. a farmer at Crownthorpe. "The next I saw of the aeroplane was when the machine nose-dived out of the cloud." Witness added that before the machine flattened out, the engine roared fiercely. Then the machine climbed a little, turning in a direction away from him. At this stage he thought it was under control. When it was on an angle, one wing—it appeared to him to be the left wing— turned upward and the aeroplane came down out of control, with the engine still running. The scene of the crash was described by Senior-Sergeant G. Sivyer. An examination of parts of the machine distributed over some hundreds of yards left no doubt, he said, that one of the wings had broken away just prior to the "crash of the main part.