PARACHUTIST KILLED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21745, 30 March 1936, Page 12

PARACHUTIST KILLED

FALL OF 1500 FEET

INTO SURF

“SCOTTY” FRASER’S DEATH

AT WELLINGTON

CROWD STUNNED WITH

HORROR

(PUSS association UUSUII.)

WELLINGTON, March 29. Before the eyes of thousands “Scotty” Fraser, New Zealand's foremost parachutist, fell 1500 feet to his death in the waters of Lyall Bay at the McGregor appeal pageant on Saturday afternoon. He was unable to open his parachute. It is believed that a pin, used in packing, was not taken out before he jumped. The jump was to have been the first of two which he had volunteered to snake at the pageant. Earlier in the afternoon he had packed bis parachute in the clubhouse before a 'group of onlookers, and about 10 minutes before 3 o’clock he went out to the Wellington Aero Club’s Moth-Major ZKADP. After a few words to the pilot, Mr K. G. Smith, he tossed away his cigarette and climbed into the front cockpit. The pilot climbed to 1500 feet out over the bay so that the wind, a slight southerly, would drift him inward on to the ®*fodrome. Then the parachutist climbed out on the footway of the machine and after signalling to the pilot he jumped off.

The spectators watched the figure itself from the machine and wailed for the great white umbrella to open. There was no alarm as he fell clear and dropped because there I* always an interval before the parachutist pulls the ripcord, nor was there any undue alarm in the following seconds, for, although the height was below that from which delayed drops are usually made, there was no immediate danger. Only when he was about 700 feet from the ground did the crowd realise that it was witnessing a tragedy. Silently they watched the white figure revolving slowly and in the twinkling of an eye disappear, sending up a cloud of sandy water about 30 feet high. From the air the pilot watched, waiting to see the parachute open’. Tne announcer at the loud-speakers was tactful, but there was a world of meaning in his words, “The jump was not so successful.”

The crowd seemed stunned witff hoi ror. Then there was a wiM,.*.,," cf - seashore.

Spectators Rush Into Water

Swimmers at Lyall Bay saw the tragedy and immediately came along the beach and dashed in with others from among the crowd who had hastily discarded part of their clothing, and swam out about 200 or GOO yards to where the parachute, still attached to the body but burst open by the impact, floated like a buoy. Mr W. Moulton, an engineer, was the first to reach the spot, and the rescuers, who were hampered by the heavy surf which was running at the time, had to remove the parachute and then bring the body ashore, where it was placed in a van which had rushed from the aerodrome. Doctors said that death had been instantaneous. Fraser had been badly battered about the head and lace by the impact. It is believed that a temporary fastening pin, which is used to hold the folds together when the parachute has been packed and while

the flaps of the canvas cover are being drawn over it, was not removed as is necessary, and that consequently It was impossible for the parachute to open when the ripcord was pulled. The parachute was Fraser’s own and was of the best type manufactured, being valued at about £9O. It replaced an earlier parachute of the same make which the parachutist had used and which had been tom by bushes in various landings and patched, _ but he had made several jumps with the new pack. Fraser held a parachute packer’s license and had been making public exhibitions of his skill for several yea**. He bad made over 100 jumps.

In accordance with the tradition established over many years by the Boyal Air Force, the pageant was continued after the tragedy. leaser was a married man, 42 rears of age, but it is understood there there was no family. Born In Scotland, he served in the Great War with a Scottish unit and then transferred to the Royal Air Force bams sent as a flight cadet to IsEgypt, where he remained until the armistice. He came to New Zealand after the war and for • time was coal-mining on the West Coast When the New Zealand Air Force was established as a territorial unit in 1923 he was given a commission in it as second lieutenant officer. He resigned about 1929 or 1930. About three years *g° be made two jumps at the Rongotai aerodrome, one from 1500 foet and one from 3000 feet from a machine piloted by Mr T. W. White