AIR FORCE CRASHES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 81, 7 April 1931, Page 10

AIR FORCE CRASHES

YEAR OPENS BADLY

NEW ZEALANDER'S DEATH

CADET FROM KAIKOURA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 17th February.

The Air Ministry announced on 14th February that as the result of an accident near Cranwell, Lincolnshire, to an Atlas aircraft of the Royal Air Force College on the previous day, FlightCadet Arthur Moreland Acton-Adams was killed outright, and Flying-Officer Antony Frederick Paul Anniug, the pilot, was seriously injured. The latter died the same night. Flight-Cadet Ac-ton-Adams belonged to Kaikoura, and arrived in the middle of 1929 to join the E.A.F. A verdict of "accidental death" was returned at the inquest at Cranwell. Flight-Lieutenant H. Sandiford said he instructed Flying-Officer Arming to take Flying-Cadet Acton-Adams in an Atlaa machine for a dual inspection. He himself was later flying when he saw a crashed aeroplane in a field, and he immediately landed and helped to extricate the occupants, who were alive but unconscious and badly injured. In his opinion the crash was the result of an error of judgment on the part of Flying-Officer Arming, in that he took control of the aeroplane too late from Flying-Qadet Acton-Adams. Leslie Hardy, of Novenby, a farm labourer, said he saw the machine turn nose downward and hit the ground, but it did not catch fire. The Coroner" said the aeroplane had been thoroughly inspected, and was fit for flight. The young man was learning to fly, was quite confident, and had flown previously, and. it was just one of those things that happened in the air. There may have been an error of judgment, but no one could be blamed. This is the 21st death this year caused by accidents to E.A.F. machines. Including the victims of two civil aeroplane accidents, the death roll in British aviation since 1931 opened is 26. A YEAR'S BAD RECORD. Tho aeronautical correspondent of the "Morning Post" writes: "Royal Air Force fatalities this year have reached a weekly average of more than double that of the last ten years. "From 1920 until December, 1930, tho highest weekly average of fatalities in the Royal Air Force was recorded in 1926, when the figure was 1.63 a week. During the six weeks of 1931 the average works out at 3.33 deaths a week. Last year tho comparable figure was 1.23 and in 1929 it fell to as low as 0.78. "A good deal of uneasiness is felt about this increase in fatal accidents. The introduction of slots led to a perceptible decline in the accident rate. "At the beginning of this year aircraft used for training had their wing slots locked shut, because it was said that this was necessary for instruction. "On the dangers of this procedure being pointed out in the 'Morning Post/ the Air Ministry ordered that the locked slots should be unlocked, and it is to be presumed that the slots in the Atlas which crashed were in full operation. "Tho large Iris flying boat which crashed at Plymouth with a loss of nine lives was not fitted with wing slots, nor are other standard R.A.F. flying boats. The Air Ministry states that it is not yet satisfied that slots are desirablo on flying boats, although the Canadian Department of National Defence has boon using them on its flying boats and reports in their favour. "It is clear that even when every aircraft in the R.A.F. is slotted many causes of accidents will remain unaffected. Among these are collisions, especially during close formation flying, fog and bad visibility, aucl imperfect judgment on the part of the pilot. COMPLETE OVERHAUL DEMAND. "This year's bad record will strengthen the demand for a complete overhaul of Air Ministry methods of investigating and reporting on accidents. "At present the Coroner's inquest is, normally, the only public investigation into a service accident. It has been urged for some time that the entire evidence and findings of tho technical investigation by the Inspector of Accidents should be made availablo to the public. In no other way is it possible to determine where improvements can be effected. "According to French computations the rate of fatal accidents for hours flown in the R.A.F. is now higher than in the French Air Force. The Air Ministry has refused to give the hours flown by the R.A.F., so that no answer *o this suggestion is gossible."