FOUR DIE IN PLANE CRASH

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27055, 2 June 1953, Page 6

FOUR DIE IN PLANE CRASH

Nelson Aero Club Members

MACHINE GOES INTO SPIN AT 400 FT

(New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, June 1. Four members of the Nelson Aero Club were killed this afternoon when a Proctor aircraft owned by the club crashed and burst into flames in a paddock at Hope, about 10 miles from Nelson. Those killed were: B. J. Perry, single, aged 22, son of Mr and Mrs F. Perry, of Richmond. Mr Perry was pilot of the aircraft James H. Cromie, single, son of Mr and Mrs A. J. Cromie, Oxford street, Richmond. Ernest James Tucker, married, with one child, of Tahunanui. Donald Hall, single, son of Mrs C. G. Hall, Brook street, Nelson. A motorist driving along the State highway a quarter of a mile away saw the aircraft descending. At a height of about 400 ft it made a steep left-hand bank, lifted a little, and then went into a slow spin and crashed. The machine immediately burst into flames.

Farmers nearby rushed to the scene, but were unable to extricate any of the occupants.

The four men left the Nelson aerodrome in the aircraft at 2.55 p.m. and the accident happened within 10 minutes about six miles south of the aerodrome, on the farm of Mr Tracy W. Smith.

The weather was calm and clear and the plane was flying over the flat country of the Waimea Plain. A Nelson taxi-driver on the Aniseed Valley hill, several miles away, watched the aircraft crash, and by radio-telephone called up the taxi headquarters, enabling the aerodrome

control, tower to know of the accident immediately. The bodies were recovered by the police and brought to Nelson. The Inspector of Aircraft Accidents will arrive from Wellington tomorrow to investigate. Messrs Perry and Tucker held private pilots’ licences. Messrs Cromie and Hall were student pilots. Messrs Perry and Cromie were both members of the Old Boys’ senior Rugby team in Nelson. Mr Tucker was well known as a driver of racing cars.