GREAT AIRMEN KILLED.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17430, 15 April 1922, Page 11

GREAT AIRMEN KILLED.

FATE OF ROSS SMITH AND BENNETT. NEW MACHINE CRASHES AT BRQOKIiANBS. (By Cable—Prts» Association.—Copyri^Ht.) (Australian and J>.Z. Cabla Associativa.) (Received .April 12th, ii.o p.m.) LONDON. April 13Sir Ross Smith, K.8.E., and Lieutenant J. 31. Bennett, A.F.M., were killed while testing the machine on ! which they were to have attempted their flight round the world. Sir Ross Smith and Bennett rose at 12.15 p.m. in order to test their machine at Brooklands. Sir Keith Smith did not participate in the trial. The flying conditions were most favourable. The machine fleV perfectly for a quarter of an hour. It then developed a spin and nose-dived and crashed, falling on the iron fence surrounding the racing track. Sir Ross Smith was killed instantly and Bennett died two minutes later. The defect in tho machine which caused the accident is not explainable at present. The Fatal Crash. Half an hour before the fatal flight. Captain Cockerill, of the Vickers Co., had successfully flown the machine for thirty minutes, then handing it over to Sir Ross Smith. fcJir Keith Smith had intended joining in the trial flight, but ho arrived at the aerodrome too late to take part. He was, however, present to witness the crash. When the machine fell Sir Keith was one of the first to arrive on tho spot and saw his brother's body removed from the machine to the track. A motor ambulance removed the bodies to the mortuary. ® • An eye-witness of the accident declared that the machine climbed gracefully and powerfully to a height of 3000 feet and then swung to a vertical position with on© rving dipping. Then she began to spin slowly downwards nose first. The spectators at first thought Sir Ross Smith was "stunting" in order to test the wings, but tho speed of the spinning accelerated. It was soon apparent that the machine was bo von d control and it finally crashed 150 yards from the terrified spectators. Sir Ross Smith was found dead in the seat of the machine, which was a heap of wreckage. Lieutenant Bennett was so severely injured that he died immediately after he had been extricated from the wreckage. No fire broke out and the aeroplane was intact until it reached the earth.

The Air Ministry will hold an enquiry into the accident in a few days. Fifteen hundred employees at the Vickers works who had ceased work for the trial witnessed the fatal flight. One member of Vickere's testing staff, in a statement, said:—"l ascended in another machine accompanied by cinematographei-s, who were photographing Ross Smith's machine, which was named the 'Vickers.'. When under Captain Oockerill's charge she behaved splendidly. When ' Jgir Ross Smith took over the machine she had a beautiful take-off and ran well. Then Itoss Smith shut off the engine and was making for the aerodrome. He- pulled her nose up and stalled, and that is all. She began to spin downwards from a, height of 2000 feet, which was not enough to permiit Sir Ross Smith to lectify it. Nobody will ever know exactly what happened." Sir Keith Smith was overcome with giief when he saw the crash, and flung himself across his brother's body. Condolences. Captain F. E. Guest, Secretary of' State for' the Air, telegraphed' to Sir Keith Smith: —"On behalf of the Air Council and myself please accept sincerest condolences in the tragic death of Sir Ross Smith and Lieutenant Bennett on the eve of your round-the-world flight." Captain Guest has written to Sir , Joseph Cook, Hisjh Commissioner for Australia, requesting l.im to convey to the deceased airmen's relatives the Air Council's profound sympathy in the tragic accident which killed two distinguished pioneers in aviation on the eve of the projected world flight, which the Council hud hoped would not only eclipse the historic flight to Australia, but would also have been a further step in linking up by air the many countries of the world, as well as the different parts of the Empire. The sudden ending of two such promising lives would bo everywhere felt ss an irreparable loss. & THE WRECKED AEROPLANE. LAST INTERVIEW WITH SIR ROSS SMITH. LONDON, April 12. The "Daily Telegraph" interviewed Sir Ross Smith, who was to start on his flight round the world on April 25th accompanied by "is brother, Sir Keith Smith, ana Lieutenant Bennett, on a VickersViirty which mode the flight to Australia. The machine is boat-like in construction, surmounted by a biplane wJth a Napier engine *of 450 horse-power, mounted high between the wings wi the driving propeller behind. 0 wings havo been tested for enduranco in various temperatures, and by immcrisior: for long period® in salt water. ■landing wheels can be be lowered into position ill 90 seconds. A feature ot ithe machine is the tail skids, which wi also aot as rudders when the machine is afloat. . They are filled with compressed air under a pressure of 2oolb to the square inch. The equipment also includes a Reid control indicator, which informs the pilot when tjie machine is listing, and Hears glow lamps, which can ha used ini fog. The wireless set has been tested to and frp l ® the Eiffel Tower. The aerials, which are between the wing? for receiving, are dropped for sending messages. A certain number of spare parts are carried, and a spare engine will be available at Tokyo. It will take 120 flying hours to reach

Tokyo, but Sir Ross Smith hopes that tho ftvst; engine will carry them to Borden, in Canada. Forty-seven petrol depots liavo been organised. Each airman has one suit of clothes and eight pounds of luggage. They will bo able to smoke, thanks to a special cigarette holder on the principle of tho Davy lamp. It is expected the journey of 240 flying hours will Ik> finished in three months. Tho aviators arc confident, and are looking forward cheerfully to thoir arduous experience. Tho routo will be through France, Italy, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Burma, China, Japan, tho Aleutian Islands in the Northern Pacific, Alaska, the Canadian lakes, New York, St. John's, the Azores, and then homo. A GREAT AVIATOR. SIB BOSS SMITH'S CAREEE. Captain Sir Ross Macpherson Smith was born on December 4th, 1892, in Adelaide, where his parents still reside. He was educated at Queen's School, Adelaide, and in Scotland. At the outbreak of the Great War he enlisted in the 3rd Australian Light Horse Regiment, and sailed with tho "Main Body," landing in Egypt infDecember, 1914. Ai'teor serving lour months on Gallipoli, ho gained a commission. He contracted enteric fever, and was invalided to England. He rejoined his regiment in March, 1916, and took part in the Battle of Romar.i during the last Turkish attack on tho Suez Canal in August, _ 1916. In the following October he joined the 67th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, as an observer, qualifying as a pilot in Egypt iln Juiy, 1917. He then rejoined his squadron, now known as No. 1 bquadron, _ Australian Flying Corps, stationed in Southern Palestine, and remained thero until the armistice. .During the war he was twice wounded. He had one bar to his military medal, and two to his Distinguished •plying Cross, which he won fol- descending behind the Turkish lines and successfully picking; up a brother airman who had been compelled to make a forced landing. In December, 1918, ho made the first flight from Cairo to Calcutta, for which he was awarded, the Air Force Cross. After arriving in. Calcutta he went with Air Commodore Borton on his reconnaisance for aerodromes in Burma, Slam, the Malay States, and the Dutch East Indies, an experience by which he profited later.

PLIGHT TO AUSTRALIA. In I£)J,9 Sir Ross Smith returned to England, and decided to make an effort to win the 'Commonwealth Government's prize of £IO,OOO for the first 'flight from England to Australia. The machine selected for the flight was a Viekers-Vimy aeroplane, fitted with two 350 horse-power Rolls-Royce engines. It was similar in design to, and actually embodied several . parts, of; the machine which Sir John Alcock flew across the Atlantic. Accompanied by his brother, Sir Keith Smith, and two mechanics. Sergeant J. W. Bennett and Sergeant W. H. Shiers, Sir Ross Smith left Hounslow. London, on November 12th, 1919. The stages of the journey wero as follow:;—-Lyons, Pisa, Rome, Tarantrij Suda Bay, Cairo,. Damascus, Ramadie, Basra, Bunder-Abbas (Persia), Karachi, Delhi,, Muttra, Allahabad, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon Bangkok, Singora, Singapore, Kalidjatti (We3t Java), Bima (Soembawa), Port Darwin, .where they arrived on December 10th.. 'They met with many difficulties and trying experiences during their journey, but they succeeded in completing it and winning the prize. They covered the distance of 11,294 miles from Hounslow aerodrome to Poi't Darwin, in just under 28, days. To win the prize they had to accomplish, the journey within 30 days o;r 720 consecutive hours. Actually they completed it in 668 hours 20 minutes. With the exception of Lieutenants Parer and Macintosh, who. started too late to compete for the prize, aitid whb were eight months on the journey, Sir Ross Smith and his companions were the only airmen to complete the distance, fatal accidents happening to ..two other competing machines. Subsequently the VickersVimy machine was flown overland from Port Darwin to Melbourne in stages totalling nearly 2500 miles. World-wide congratulatjonsi were showered on Ross Smith and his companions, including a special message•> from the King, who confeiTcd knightwoods of the Order of the British Empire on Ross Smith and his brother Keith, and awarded bars to their Air Force Medals to Sergeants Bennett and Shiefs. Subsequently Sir Ross and Sir Keith toured Australia, and the latter also made a. lecture tour of New Zealand in 1920. LIEUTENANT BENNETT.

Lieutenant (formerly Sergeant) J W Bennett M S.M., A.F.M., was born at St. Ivilda, Melbourne, in 1892. He received a thorough and ear;v training with Sal way Motor Engineers, and was employed for a considerable time with other pirominenl;, motor linns, in Australia. At the outbreak of war he eni listed in the mechanical transport. AusI tralian Imperial! Forces, sailing as a first-class air mechanic with No./ 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, with which he served in Egypt and Palestine uhtil the armistice. Both olnerfl and Bennett were awarded the Air Force Medal for their work with Ross Smith in the Cairo-Calcutta flight, and both sen-eel with the North-West I'rentier Forces in th© late Afghan War. Sir Ross Smith had a very high opinion of Bennett and Shiers, to whose valuable services as mechanics he largely attributed the success of the flight to Australia. The tragic death of Sir Ross Smith and Lieiatenant Bennett is a melancholy reminder of the fate of other famous aviators. Sir John Alcoek, who with Sir Arthur Brown u made the first successful one-stage flight across the Atlantic in June, 1919, was killed by his aerojplaae striking a farm house in flense fog in France on Deember 19th, 1919—a few days after Sir Ross Smith's arrival in Australia. Mr Harry Hawker, who attempted ithe trans-Atlantic flight in May. 1919, and was rescued from the sea by a passing steamer, was killed in a crash at Btendon last July. THE IROfIIY OF FATE. AMERICAN PEJESS COMMENT. (Received Auril 14th, 11.5 p.m.) NEW YORK. April 14. The "New York Times," commenting on the death of Sir Ross Smith, points out that he was a greater iflier than ; Sir John Alcock, and adds: "Both men were noted for their coolness and dexterity, yet each, in an unaccountable way, lost control of his machine. The conclusion must bo that the aeroplane is a sensitive, erratic machine which on occasions baifles tho most alert and resourceful pilot." The ''New York World" calls Sir Ross Smith's death a "tragedy of un- . usual fotefulness, even for aviation." The. "New York Herald" says: "It is the irony of the air that it will let a flier do things seemingly impossibly and then kill him when attempting a triiie.''