BODIES FOUND

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 135, 4 March 1941, Page 6

BODIES FOUND

Crew Of Plane Missing Since October

CRASH IN DENSE BUSH

Party Has Difficulty In

Reaching Spot

Advice was received early last evening from R.N.Z.A.F. Station, New Plymouth, that the airciaft which was reported missing on October 3, 1940, on a flight fioni Hobsonville to Ohakea, had been located. The bodies of the crew have been recovered, They were:

Flying Officer Harry Nalder Major; sister, Mrs. J. R. Morris, c/o King’s School, Remuera, Auckland.

Flight Sergeant Shelton Benton Smith; father, Mr. Henry Smith, 41 Grange Road, Mt. Eden, Auckland.

Corporal Raymond Bernard Smith; sister, Mrs. N. M. Reader, 18 Tennis Court Road, Khandaliah.

The wreckage of the aircraft was found by a party of pig-hunters, and immediately this report was received a police party, accompanied by Flight Lieutenant A. G. Hill, of R.N.Z.A.F. Station, New Plymouth, set out for the scene of the accident. The aircraft had crashed in dense bush between Tougaporutu and the Mohakatino River, on the seaward side of the main road. The police party had extreme difficulty in reaching the spot, having to travel along the beach and through rough bush country. The aircraft was completely wrecked,-and the bodies of the crew were found nearby, having been thrown clear by the impact of the crash. All three had been killed instantly. There was no sign of Are.

For some time after the accident was first reported intensive searching by air over the area was carried out, without result. The reason was made clear when the wreckage was finally located. The dense bush into which the machine had crashed completely closed in the wreckage, which could not be seen from the air. The bodies of the crew have’been brought back to Mokau and the official inquiry will be resumed within the next few days.