MOTH AEROPLANE WRECKED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21806, 11 June 1936, Page 9

MOTH AEROPLANE WRECKED

FORCED LANDING IN BLENHEIM GARDEN PILOT AND PUPIL ESCAPE INJURY (PSESS ASSOCIATION TELE GUAM.) BLENHEIM, June 10. The Dominion’s first aero club machine, the Moth ZK-AAA, belonging to the Marlborough Aero Club, was wrecked this morning as the re-. suit of a forced landing in the front] garden of a house near the municipal aerodrome. The accident occurred in the course of a training flight, the pilot-instructor, Mr N. E. Chandler, I accompanying a pupil, A. Griffin, of Nelson. Both escaped injury. Soon after taking off Mr Chandler discovered that the rudder control was inoperative, and he decided to effect a quick landing in a nearby paddockTrees in the vicinity necessitated a sharp descent and the machine struck a wire fence. Eye-witnesses said that the aeroplane bounced into the air almost in front of the house of Mr F. B. Porter, and caught an electric power] line, which it brought down, ripping j a large board off the house. Miracu-1 lously, the live wires did not ignite the aeroplane, which crashed in an inverted position a few feet from the cottage. The occupants of the aeroplane struggled from the wreckage without even a scratch. The back of the aeroplane was broken at the cockpits, while the wings were spreadeagled. . . The damaged machine has an interesting history, as it was a gift from Lord Wakefield to New Zealand in 1929. It was allotted by the Government to the Marlborough Club. Subsequently, Mr Chandler effected a forced landing in it in the sea at Ship’s Cove, in Queen Charlotte Sound. The aeroplane had been rebuilt several times after smashes, and little of toe original machine remains except the identification letters, which were first Issued under toe present system.