Flew Flaming Jet Past City Before Baling Out

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29907, 22 August 1962, Page 12

Flew Flaming Jet Past City Before Baling Out

(N.Z. Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, August 21. A Royal New Zealand Air Force jet pilot is believed to have risked his life this afternoon to prevent his flaming Vampire aircraft from crashing on the built-up area of Palmerston North. The Vampire crashed in flames near an airstrip at Kairanga, about two miles from the 2ZA radio mast after the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Michael Charles Airey, aged 27, had baled out. Flight Lieutenant Airey, who was uninjured, was picked up by Mr H. W. Jensen, of Longbum, and taken back to Ohakea.

According to eye-witnesses, the Vampire was on fire as it passed over Palmerston North, but the pilot stayed with the aircraft until it was well clear of the city. Mr Mark Redward, who was at Longbum, said the plane appeared to be about 1500 to 2000 feet up when the pilot baled out “When I first saw the plane, there appeared to be a small amount of flame and quite a bit of smoke,” he said. “It banked to the left, then came down in a steep dive and hit the ground in a great burst of flame. There was a terrific puff of smoke like a mushroom.” Mr Jensen said he and his wife thought someone had gone through the sound barrier. “When we went outside to look, we saw Flight Lieutenant Airey parachuting down. We were amazed to see him so calm. He did not apear to be depressed. He rolled up his parachute and then we brought him up to

our house and gave him a cup of tea.” Flight Lieutenant Airey’s main concern, Mr Jensen said, was that when he had turned the plane over and had baled out, he wondered where the plane was going to land. Although there were farm buildings in the plane’s path they had been avoided. The crash occurred at 4.22 p.m., about half an hour after Flight Lieutenant Airey took off from Ohakea on a training flight. The aircraft was heading back to Ohakea when the pilot was forced to bale out. An Air Force spokesman described the aircraft as a complete write-off. He said a court of inquiry would be held into the crash.

stocked by ewes and lambs. Hundreds of pieces of the Vampire were scattered for about 300 yards. The hole left by the impact was about five feet deep, 12 feet wide and 25 feet long, starting with a gash at the point of impact and ending with the smoking remains of the ' engine buried in the earth. The flaming plane was seen by the Milson airport control tower and the Middle Districts Aero Club’s chief instructor, Mr A. B. Milne, took off in a club aircraft to pinpoint the crash. He returned when he saw the pilot parachuting to safety. Tonight Flight Sergeant P. E. Clarke, of Ohakea, was in charge of the wreckage and sightseers were barred from the area.

Flight Lieutenant Airey, who is married with two children, is a member of No. 75 Squadron. He joined the service eight years ago. The aircraft crashed on Mr M. C. Kearins's farm and disintegrated on impact, carving a hole in a paddock