Fatal Glider Crash At Wigrain

Press, Volume C, Issue 29478, 3 April 1961, Page 10

Fatal Glider Crash At Wigrain

A man was killed almost instantly when a glider fell 150 ft to the ground at the R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Wigram, when it was being towed into the air by a Tiger Moth aircraft about 3.30 p.m. yesterday. The victim was Lloyd Hem Parry, aged 42, a company director, of 192 Geraldine street, St. Albans. He was a married man with two children.

Mr Parry was taking off in a single seater Eon Baby glider when it nosed into the ground. He was rushed to the Christchurch Hospital but was found to be dead on arrivaL The cause of the accident was not able to be ascertained late last evening. The glider was wrecked and a police guard has been mounted over it. The accident occurred about 75 yards in from Hayton road, about half way up the field. The glider belonged to the Canterbury Gliding Club. Mr Parry had a distinguished record in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, rising to the rank of wing commander. He served in the Pacific and was one of the first New Zealand pilots to fly in the Solomon Islands campaign.

He learnt to fly with the West Coast United Aero Club in 1934 and after further training W’ith the Territorial Air Force he joined the R.N.Z.A.F. on the outbreak of the war.

Mr Parry also qualified as a navigator. In the Solomon Islands he flew with a United States squadron before the first New Zealand squadrons took part in the campaign. In 1943 he was appointed to command a Ventura bomber squadron and saw further service in the Pacific.

After the war he commanded No. 41 (Transport) Squadron and flew on many trips to Japan.

Later he became deputy director of the R.N.Z.A.F. Transport Service. He was personal pilot to Earl Mountbatten ■when he visited New Zealand after the war. Mr Parry retired from the Air Force in 1947. He was appointed public relations officer to the Auckland Hospital Board in 1955 and held that position for two years before coming to Christchurch.

Mr Parry was awarded the Air Force Cross.