JAVELIN JET CRASHES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27065, 13 June 1953, Page 2

JAVELIN JET CRASHES

PILOT’S EFFORT TO LAND SAFELY (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 11. A leading British test pilot, Mr Peter Lawrence, sacrificed his life today to try to save a prototype of Britain's top secret Gloster Javelin delta-wing jet fighter. At the same time he steeied the crashing aeroplane away from houses and schoolboys playing cricket. The Javelin crashed and burst into flames 10 yards from a playing field where boys from the Bristol Grammar School were playing cricket. They flung themselves on the ground as the jet hit the ground a few feet from one of the sight screens. The aeroplane was the second prototype of the Javelin. The first prototype crashed and burst into flames in Wiltshire in June last year as it came in to land on the runway, but on that occasion the pilot escaped with burns. The Gloster Aircraft Company, manufacturers of the Javelin, said tonight that Lawrence, who was aged 32 and a well-known racing pilot, radioed that he was in trouble at 20,000 ft over the thickly-populated Bristol area. He could have baled out safely, but instead he shut off the engines and tried to glide the precious prototype slowly down to a crashlanding in open country. Lawrence took the plane—claimed to be the most powerful and forbidable fighter in the world—right down to 250ft' before he baled out on to a golf course, but he was too late. There was no time for his parachute to open and he fell to the ground and was killed instantly. The makers said that the wings and tail of the aircraft were not damaged. As the Javelin crashed there was a double explosion and the machine

caught fife. The Javelin, built by the Gloster Aircraft Company, is one of the fastest aeroplanes in the world. It can exceed the speed of sound—7so miles an hour. The Javelin, still on the secret list will be used by the Royal Air Force an an all-weather day and night fighter. It is powered by two Arm-strong-Siddeley Sapphire jet engines.

GRAHAM KILLED IN T.T.

DUKE BREAKS LAP RECORD (Rec. 12.45 a.m.) LONDON, June 12. Les Graham, of Britain, was killed instantly at the sart of the second lap of the senior Tourist Trophy motorcycle race on the Isle of Man today when he crashed at the bottom of the steep Bray Hill. Geoff Duke, also of Britain, broke his own lap record of 95 miles an hour by covering the first lap at 96.38 miles ah hour from a standing start. Graham was killed instantly when he crashed into a brick wall at more than 100' miles an hour. He was unable to negotiate a bend at the bottom of the long, steep Bray Hill, where most riders approach their maximum speeds. Yesterday Graham won the ultralightweight Tourist Trophy, for machines of 125 c.c., setting new race and lap records. Duke moved into first place at the end of his record-breaking first lap. Ray Amn, of Rhodesia, who won the junior Tourist Trophy race on Monday, was in third place, and in fourth place was Australia’s Ken Kavanagh, after a first lap of 92.82 miles an hour.

GLACIER BREAKS LOOSE

Hospital Destroyed In Norway . LONDON, June 11. A glacier broke loose today and crashed on a Norwegian coalmining settlement at Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, destroying a hospital and two other buildings. At least two people were killed. One of the other buildings housed a number of mineworkers. Information about the disaster will be released by the head office of the coalmine company in Oslo. No more details are likely to be known tonight. Two doctors and members of the Red Cross rescue service were flown tonight to Spitsbergen from Tromsoe.

HOARD OF RARE METAL FOUND

Tantalum Under Pile Of Rotting Sacks (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, June 11. The “Daily Telegraph” says that a hoard of rare metal valued at £lO,OOO has been discovered in the Cornwall home of a former mining manager in Australia. The metal, consisting of two tons and a half of ore tantalum, one of the rarest metals in the world, was found in a pile of rotting sacks in an outhouse at Redruth.

The administrators of the estate of William Anthony Michell, who as a young man managed the New Balia Balia copper mines in north-west Australia, found the tantalum while clearing up Michell’s effects. Michell brought home his cargo of tantalum from Australia 45 years ago. In those days there was no demand for tantalum, so he stored it in an outhouse at Redruth, but he maintained his belief in the metal’s potentialities until his death this year at the age. of 75. The administrators sent a sample for assay and found that the world market price for tantalum has risen sharply only in the last few months.

FLIGHT OF 30 MILES IN BALLOON

LONDON, June 11. Three balloonists, a New Zealander, Derek Cunninghame-Blank and two Germans, Hugo Eimermacher and Fritz Watermann, who took off together on a trial flight along the south coast of England last Friday morning, landed safely later the same day 30 miles away at Bpxhill. The ultimate object of the three is a flight to Germany, which they will not attempt until the weather is favourable.

LEADERS DINE WITH BARRISTERS

LONDON, June 11. Five. Commonwealth Prime Ministers and leading representatives of the other Dominions went to the Middle Temple, the ancient headquarters of London’s legal societies, tonight, for a Coronation banquet given by Britain’s leading barristers. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who is a member of the Middle Temple, attended. The principal guests were Mr Menzies (Australia), Mr Holland (New Zealand), Mr Senanayake (Ceylon), j , Huggins (Southern Dr - George Borg