SEARCH FOR PLANE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30061, 20 February 1963, Page 12

SEARCH FOR PLANE

Reported Crash

In Sea

The search for a light aircraft, which was reported to have crashed into the sea about two miles oft the coast, near Kaikoura yesterday morning was called oft at 4.10 p.m. There were no sightings of wreckage and no aircraft was reported missing. The Search and Rescue Organisation was alerted after Mr J. F. Wilkinson, a garage proprietor, of Marshland road, Christchurch, reported seeing a plane come down in the sea. He told Mr R. Morgan, the storekeeper and caretaker at Goose Bay and Mr Morgan telephoned the Kaikoura police. Devon and Harvard aircraft from the R.N.Z.A.F. station, Wigram, made sweeps of the area without sighting any trace of the plane. Two Kaikoura fishing boats, the Lister Maris and the Lassie, were directed to the scene by the police. The Lister Maris, owned by Mr S. Wilson, arrived at the area about 11.30 am. and the Lassie, which was in charge of her owners, Messrs L. and N. Baxter, arrived some time later. Mr Wilkinson said at 8.50 am. he saw a light Pipertype aircraft flying north above the sea. His attention was drawn to the plane because of its low speed and altitude.

“It appeared to be losing height and I saw smoke trailing from it. The plane was on a gentle glide path when it hit the sea, and a large ball of smoke arose as if the fuel tank had burst and the fuel had ignited on the surface,” Mr Wilkinson said. He pointed it out to his wife and she also saw the smoke. At the time visibility was good except for a slight sea haze above a choppy sea. Mr Wilkinson was unable to identify the colour of the aircraft and he could not hear the sound of the motor He estimated that it was about two miles off the coast. Mr Wilkinson has been camping at Kiki Bay with his wife and family. During the war he served in the R.N.Z.A.F. Mr C. Bary, of Mount Berry Station, Claveriey, about six miles south of the sighting point, reported to the Kaikoura policeman (Constable L. N. Snowdon) that at 9 a.m. he saw a high-winged monoplane travelling north at about 500 ft.

Mr Bary told Constable Snowdon that it was a singleengined plane which made a noise like a helicopter. It was this noise that had attracted his attention.

This sighting, which coincides with that of Mr, Wilkinson, was reported by Mr Bary to the Kaikoura constable about 7.15 p.m. yesterday.