LEAP FOR LIFE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 7

LEAP FOR LIFE.

SAVED BY A PARACHUTE.

An officer of the Royal Air Force, Flight-Lieutenant D’Arcy Greig, saved his life by descending by parachute when his aeroplane crashed at Warlingliam, Surrey, on April 29, The machine, a single-seater fighter of the Gamecock type, was at a height of about 10,000 feet when it got out of control. The pilot dropped safely to earth over a mile from the spot where the ’plane fell, burst into flames, and was wrecked.

Attached to the 23rd Fighter Squadron, and stationed at Kenley, Lieutenant Greig was observed to be in difficulties when above Riddlesdown, near Chelsham. Soon afterwards it got into a spin and turned a somersault. At that moment the pilot was seen to leap clear of the falling machine. Tho parachute which brought him ■to safety is of a type has been in use for some time and had been previously employed in similar circumstances.

Tho machine stuck in a ploughed field on Court Farm, which runs, beyond the ; top of the high ridge alongside of the > main road for a long distance between Parley and Caterham. It rebounded, and then, turning a complete somersault, finally crashed into tho soft earth. There was a loud explosion from the petrol tank, and columns of flame and smoke were seen from afar. Telephone messages were sent to the aerodrome, while the assistance of Dr Pollock, from Warlingham, and from the fire brigade, from Purloy, was also sought. The fire brigade, with their engine and an ambulance, were on the scene within a few minutes, but tho machine had then become a smoking mass of ruins. The brigade remained to search for what they feared would be the charred remains of yet further airmen victims, but they were soon joined by an Air Force party from Kenley aerodrome, and the sergeant in charge was able to state that the pilot had safely landed about two miles away. A curious feature of the pilot’s landing was that, although inquiries were later made in all directions, no one could bo discovered who had actually seen him land or could indicate the spot where he landed. An eye-witness account of tho crash was given by Mr W. D. Moors, proprietor of an hotel at Riddlesdown. “Quite by chance,” he said, “I looked up to watch a ’plane coming over from Kenley aerodrome. Suddenly there were some sharp reports, which I could hear quite plainly, although the machine was, I estimated, well over 10,000 feet in the air, and a stream of smoke came from the fuselage. It was obviously getting out of control and dipped rapidly, turning into a spinning dive.

“I could just see the figure, of a man hanging to the body of the ’plane, but as it rushed to earth with a cloud of black smoke behind it in the sky the man seemed to throw himself free, and I saw that he was equipped with a parachute, which soon opened. The smoking ’plane came hurtling down almost directly above me, and I felt for a second that it might hit the hotel, n fell wide, however, and as it crashed it burst into a roaring mass of flames, and was but mere wreckage within a minute. I did not see the pilot land, as the falling ’plane riveted my attention.” Discussing the use of parachutes, an official of the Air Ministry stated that there had been comparatively few cases where Eoyal Air Force pilots had been able to save themselves from a crash by this means. “The policy of utilising parachutes in the Air Force,” he said, ‘ ‘ has only been in ' existence for 18 months or two years, and I can only recall two cases to mind. One was at Duxford about a year ago, when two pilots involved in a collision in mid-air escaped by using parachutes, and the other was when a Vickers pilot saved his life about six or eight months ago by utilising a parachute. ‘ 1 Of course, there are _ many cases where pilots have not had time to get to their parachutes because their machines have crashed when near the ground. It is the policy of the Air Force to-day to supply each pilot and mechanic with a parachute. The Air Ministry feel that the saving of even one life has justified the introduction of parachutes.”