AIRMEN KILLED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1480, 1 July 1912, Page 3

AIRMEN KILLED.

WRECKED MONOPLANE IN FLAMES.

An English airman, Mr. E. V. D. Fisher, and his passenger, an American visitor named Meson, were Irillcd at Brooklands, near Weybridge, on Monday evening, May

13 ■ ' just before six o'clock, when the weather was clear and. still, Mr. Fisher and his passenger went up in a Howard-Flanders monoplane, orders for three of which were recently given by the. War Olriee. Mr. Mason was a close- iriciid of Commander Samson, tl.a naval airman who made suc- ' cVs.-ful .flights hvfon the King ofl' Wcymoutli, and had acccmyankd that officer to Brooklands. for the afternoon. Mr. Mason expre-wd a wish to the commander to try a moncplana flight, and. it was owing" to the officer's influence tint he was taken as a passenger. The" monoplane had made six circles of the (lviiiß ground, and' was d-KCPiidins when," at a hsigkt of about 150 ft., the machine, according to eye-witnesses,' soemcd to "side-slip" and then made a dive head fcromost'to tho ground. Both the airman and his passenger were thrown out, and after the fall the petrol tank burst into flames, s-jorching the clothing of Mr. Mason. , Mr. Sopwith, wbo was £;.u>.c in his Bleriot monoplane, saw the. ai Went from the air, and was the first to reach the spot in his machine. A worn , , (if helprs from the aeroplane sheds avj the motor track were in time to save the todies from injurv by tho flames. . Mr. A. Dukinfiold-Jone?, a director of the. company which manut 'cturcs the Flanders* machine, witnessed . ,t.he fall. Ho raid: "I turned round ius.l' mi timu to sse ths machine fall. It fel. " ; ko a stone, and struck the irround witi, '-- mendous force at a- snot near the :.iok •track. We raced,to "tho -raot in i»itorcars, but Mr. Somvith, who was flying, 'was there fin-i. Wo found thet bsth tho nor fellows had. Wn killed instnntlv. their snvnes l*>in<» ilislccated. I Inu.v th« machine vras all visht. for 1 Mil lr.cn up as a pa-'jseiyror with Mr. Fish-r,. and made twelve circle of the zround jli«t before he set out on hislnft (light. A pupil had also flown iv tlr? machine during the afternoon. "lfi\ Fisher hntl been enjoying the flying ~o lmie'i tint ho tti>* enh- ton eager to take ur TSTr. Mr. Fifher was only twenH--/onr. Hi< fall'sr, who is over eighty, was at Brcotlands recewllly watching his 'in flying." . ; Th« accident b"'nw the unmlipr of airmen killed in 'F.iwlond to twelve, and ni'nkcs the death roll for this year thirty-fc-nr. A verdict, of accidental death was returned at the inquest. Describing th? accident. ' Lieutenant T'ortc said . tl>i machine "sinVMinrcd." The airman then made a (|uarter-turn. overbankin" with the tail down too lew. Tho acronlano was brought horizontal again, but sbovtlv after began to dive, becoming practically vertical. He bslievd the accident was "dus to Hi.» "sidp-sliu-ping." and not to any defect in the machine. '