AIR PASSENGER KILLED

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22663, 18 March 1939, Page 16

AIR PASSENGER KILLED

Pilot Seriously Hurt CLUB MACHINE CRASHES | Accident on Great Barrier Island CPXXBS USOCIATIOjr TILIGIUI.) AUCKLAND, March 17. A Miles Magister low wing monoplane belonging to the Auckland Aero Club crashed into tussocky • marshland about 200 yards from the aerodrome boundary at Great Barrier Island this afternoon, killing a passenger and seriously injuring the pilot. The machine, which was acquired by the club about a year ago at a cost of £ 1850, was completely wrecked. The occupants were;— Killed W. H. Claris, age about 32, single, believed to have relatives in Wellington. He is a Public Works engineer in charge >of the aerodrome at Great Barrier Island.

Injured E. M. Walker, Auckland; douljje fracture of the right leg, injuries to face. He is in the Auckland Hospital. There are only fragmentary details of how the accident happened. TTr»+il Walter has rArovpreH snffi-.

ciently to give a coherent account the full story will not be known. According to information furnished by onlookers some distance away,, there was engine trouble, and the monoplane rapidly lost height. Before the pilot could recover control it struck the ground. Claris was shockingly injured. Death must have been instantaneous. When the first of the rescuers arrived they found Walker sitting among the twisted wreckage of the machine. He was obviously seri-/ ously injured and in great pain, so' they did not move him, but did all they could to make him comfortable, in spite of the lack of adequate first aid equipment on the island. The nearest telephone was some distance from the aerodrome, and one of the workmen had to rim across rough country to reach it quickly. The accident happened about p.m. Walker set off from Mang|>V aerodrome, Auckland, at 9.45 called at Tauranga, and on hi£- i|l[ back to Auckland decided to*visit\ Great Barrier Island. He picked up V, Claris, apparently to take him for a trip, but ' whether the crash occurred shortly after the machine took off or on the return journey is uncertain, since Walker was too haHlv Vnvrf a , ffor , «rs»r , r?c trv mtalro anv

tatement. Observers said flying conditions were good. ’ Naval Craft Assists Telephone communication was established with the mainland. The Beechcraft flying ambulance was being overhauled and could not be place in commission before Sunday; A message was sent to Commodore Rivett-Carnac, commanding the New Zealand Squadron. He gave permission for Lieutenant Nicholl, of H.M.S. Leander, to fly the Supermarine Walrus Amphibian across from Hobsonville to the island. In the meantime arrangements were made for the dispatch of a doctor from the hospital. The Amphibian took off from Hobsonville at 2.50 p.m., and flew first to Mechanics Bay, where Dr. Gilmour, a member of the hospital medical staff, was waiting. Squadron Leader D. M. Allan, Chief Instructor to the Auckland Aero Club, and A. Slater, Chief Ground Engineer, set off in a Tiger Moth from Mangere at 3.40 to give ' what assistance they could, and to find out if possible how the tragedy _ occurred. They returned to Auckland about an hour after the Amphibian arrived at Hobsonville. Lieutenant Nicholl made a perfect landing at Hobsonville at 6.25 p.m. A number of Air Force men lifted Walker carefully from the body of the fuselage and placed him in a waiting Air Force ambulance, which travelled slowly over the bumpy, rough - stretch of three miles of road to the Great North road. As, soon as the ambulance arrived at the Auckland Hospital Walker was taken to the theatre. Until an Xray examination is made the full extent of his injuries will not be known. . It is understood that the body of Claris will be brought to Auckland to-morrow morning by aeroplane.