AIR TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1933, Page 9

AIR TRAGEDY

TWO AERO PLAN ES COLLIDE

CADET PILOTS KILLED

(From "The PosFs" Representative.) . . ' 'SYDNEY, February, 9. " So few people actually- saw the fatal collision between..two Eoyal Air Force aeroplanes at the training school at Point Cook" ok Monday that it is'difficult to seSure a reliable account of what happened. Experts are at a loss to understand how.two pilots, with.the whole .of the air at their disposal, should have flown, so close together that 'their wings touched, causing-the machines to fall, locked together a dis-. tanee of lOOQ' feet. The cadets who lost ; their lives —Kenneth: Aioysius Crispe,-24, and John. Charles McDonnell, 19, were both senior pupils at the school. They had completed the first part of the course, in which instruction is conducted mainly on Moth aeroplanes. Tor some weeks they, had been flying" the larger Wapiti aeroplanes, and .; were both in Wapitis yrhen", the collision occurred. , • ■:' ° ' '.'.'■" ;"O ~ '' :"•'■.: '. Both cadets went into the air ,for a practice flight on Monday afternoon, their- machines cari-ying ballast instead of observers. ; They left. the. ground simultaneously, and although a brisk south-easterly wind was blowing, flying conditions- were- regardedas ,ideal; At 2.40-o?clock the' two Wapitis :."eircled round, to ithe north-west, of. the aerodrome for,the purpose.of landing. They 1 approached some distance apart, with : their engine's.throttled down."' From the aerodrome the aeroplanes were seen' to converge slightly ■as they kist height. Each pilot was losing height before preparing to land by the usual process of making-gliding turns, in the course of which the.machines followed a zig-zag course as they dropped towards the aerodrome. Suddenly the two aeroplanes crashed together. The wings interlockfid and held the two machines firmly together, and" they f^ll hejadlong^- slightly nOse.:first.;;: One machine ' struck ...the ground? with its wings,;; arid iiese c- 'apparently'crumpleditip^'intd the body : $£- the- aeroplane;;f The; other machine 2 ¥ell &early;oibse'{orif and: the; engine was - 'SHven-;:BacKwards into ;the.;front seat ' 'fir svMeh ?tlie-^ilot Waa sitting. The : rftri6s;£bul:st;at "th'e-monieiifcof the iia--1 p4et:and. tfre*'pe'trol':immediately caught z^XV- S?-*^-^" :-':-':-- '.'"-' -■■■}>■'■■■' r into the -airy and the etaff " ifc-'-ife^.-aeVodioine fushed to the . spot, • y'aiiily; hbpiJig .that ■they",would be^able '* tcriaye" the'livesof the' cadets^. By. the ' -Hine^they^reached the scene':the:wieckage '^was^bnrnirig ; fiercely; : ' and :- the: i 'cadets' were dragged from the'cockpits : with" the' utmost' difflcnlty.' A", subsequent medical examination; showed that both- cadets must have been-killed by the force of the'impaet.: It is almost certain that they were dead hefore. the fire started.- Most.of the Wapitis used by the Boyal Australian- Air.Force have metal' frames, but the type used in the training school are wooden. Whenthe fire burnt out the .only parts intact were the engines, the frames of one pair of wings on on© machine, a machiie-gnn, and the control aad bracing wires. • A striking feature' of the accident is the fact that although both cadets, were wearing parachute equipment and. had been instructedin its use, neither made any attempt to abandon, the machine after the collision. The accident was the first fatal one at Point Cook Training School for nearly five years.