Boy Killed, Pilot Saved In Crash Near Oamaru

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29271, 1 August 1960, Page 10

Boy Killed, Pilot Saved In Crash Near Oamaru

(New Zealand Press Association! * WELLINGTON, July 31. A boy was killed when the Tiger Moth he and a companion were flying crashed and exploded into flames 10 miles from Oamaru this afternoon. A farmer working 50 j’ards from where the plane crashed saved the life of the pilot, braving the flames to pull him out of the plane. The pilot, unconscious at the time, suffered * severe head injuries. The dead youth was David William Tait, aged 16, whose parents, Mr and Mrs William Tait live in Perth street, Oamaru. He was a spare parts assistant. The injured pilot, William Arthur Kininmont, aged 22, is an employee of an aerial topdressing firm. His father is a farmer near where the plane crashed.

Mr J. A. Newlands was working in his garden on his farm at Incholme, near Maheno, where the plane crashed. Running the 50 yards to the burning plane, he dragged Mr Kininmont clear. The Oamaru police said tonight that Mr Newlands did not know there was a passenger in the plane. Alter dragging the pilot clear Mr Newlands sent his 12-year-old son to the house to tell his wife, leaving the scene himself later to clarify telephone calls to the police and'ambulance. Mr Newlands was only Just clear of the aircraft when it burst into flames as the petrol tank exploded. Mr Newlands later told the police he thought Mr Kininmont was trying to tell him something —“about his mate.”

The police said if Mr Newlands had tried to save the passenger he could certainly have been

killed or seriously injured as the plane burst into flames. The Oamaru police received the call at 4.22 p.m. and when they arrived later, the Tiger Moth was still burning with considerable heat There was nothing left of it.

The plane had been on a routine flight and had been checked out by the club owning it the North Otago Aero Club. The police tonight can give no reason for the crash. They expect Civil Aviation Administration experts to inspect the wreckage tomorrow.