TRAGEDY OF A CRASH

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 121, 18 November 1929, Page 11

TRAGEDY OF A CRASH

DOUBLE FATALITY

PILOT AND PASSENGER

SYDNEY, 17th November. The Automobile Club's races ,at Seven Mile Beach at Kiama were marred by a tragedy yesterday afternoon when a Moth aeroplane crashed in tlw air. The pilot, Jesse O'Connor, ancC a passenger, William Berg, a "Daily \ Guardian" photographer, who was tak-j ing pictures of the races, were both/ drowned. The aeroplane nosedived^ seven hundred feet just outside the breakers. Rescuers swam out, and found Berg's body near the 'plane, which was badly smashed, the engine being wrenched clear of the fuselage. O'Connor's Lody was not seen, though it possibly is entangled in the machine. Several of the rescuers were badly knocked about in the. rough surf. Captain Holden, who witnessed the accident, said evidently the engine stalled, owing to the 'plane-'s slow air speed.

Pilot O'Connor was an experienced man and popular with airmen. His fiancee witnessed the smash.

Mr. Berg was widely known. His greatest achievement was when he journeyed to Alice Springs with the expedition to recover the bodies of Anderson and Hitchcock, who perished while-searching for the Southern Cross. Ho was the first cameraman to penetrate the heart of the North Australian desert country; also the first Press photographer to meet death while covering an assignment in1 an aeroplane. He had just bought a ear to ,go on. a holiday with his wife.