AIRCRAFT WHEEL COLLAPSES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27666, 24 May 1955, Page 12

AIRCRAFT WHEEL COLLAPSES

MUSTANG DAMAGED AT HAREWOOD

PILOT CLIMBS OUT UNINJURED

When one leg of its undercarriage failed on landing a Mustang fighter of No. 4 (Otago) Squadron, Territorial Air Force, slewed off the main runway at the Christchurch airport, Harewood, yesterday and came to rest on the grass. The propeller, and one wing were damaged and the undercarriage wheel was broken off. Pilot Officer G. L. Smith, a student at Otago University, who was the pilot of the Mustang, climbed out unhurt. Airmen from the Royal New Zealand Air Force station. Wigram. spent the night at Harewood' guarding the broken aircraft. Today the work of dismantling the machine and carrying it back to Wigram for repair and reassembly will begin. No hard-surface runways have been built at Taieri or Wigram and it is common practice for Air Force pilots practising runway landings to do them at Harewood. Pilot Officer Smith had flown from Taieri and was about to complete his first practice landing when the oleo leg gave way. The wheel and its support broke off and the aircraft, probably travelling at about 80 miles an hour, smashed down on to one wing, bending the propeller blades. The Mustang’s speed swung, it around on the dragging wing and threw it on to the grass area beside the runway where it finally came to rest.