NOT DISCUSSED

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 114, 10 November 1934, Page 11

NOT DISCUSSED

CAUSE OE AIR CRASH

BAN BY CORONER

A weeping'man witness, who broke down and ivas scarcely able to sign tho depositions before ho was helped from the court. This was .ono of a number of emotional incidents at the inquest at Folkestone on five of the seven victims of the disaster when a Hillman airliner crashed into the sea off Folkestone, says tho "Daily Express." Tho :liner was flying, from Komfovd,' Essex, to Paris, and all the occupants lost their lives. Two bodies, including that of the pilot, were still missing, and tho inquiry concerned the five- recovered. They are those of Phyllis Budden, aged- nineteen, nurse, of Portsmouth; Andrew McGregor Eitchie, aged thirty-one, chartered accountant, of Jedburgh Gardens, Glasgow; Jean Louis Bordaz, aged twentyone, fancy goods manufacturer, of Hue do Cirque, Paris; Helene Slabodsky, aged - thirty-two, of Bue de Tourellc, Boulogne-sur-Seine, near Paris;-, ttnd Albert Paul de Sanno, of Philadelphia.

A verdict was recorded that in each ease death was due to multiple injuries received when the aeroplane crashed into the sea, there "■■.being.no evidence to shew how themachine came to fall. The deputy coroner, Mr. B. H.. Bonniface, sat without a jury. ' Sir. Lawrence Wingfiold appeared for the Guild.of Air Pilots. Mr. A. Atkinson rej)resented the relatives of M. Bordaz. v BREAKS DOWN. Count Cosiino do Bosdari, of South Street, South Kensington" said ho had identified the body of Miss Phyllis Budden, nursemaid, for his wife; lie replied to the coroner's questious with, difficulty, as he supported himself by clutching the edge of tho table.' His eyes closed and he swayed. He refused, however, to be seated; ■ but more than once he,paused to wipe his eyes. A few minutes later Count Cosimo de Bosdari t>roke down completely. He sat down and buried his face in his hands. He was just able to sign his deposition and was.then helped from the court. As he left a violent storni broke,- and tho lashing of tho rain on tho court windows almost drowned tho voice of the coroner.; M.; Robert Marie Bordaz, a young,-fair-haired Frenchman, ■ gave evidence of identity1 in tho cases of M. Bordaz, his-brother, and Mme. Slabodsky. Tho'deputy coroner then spoko to another young man who had translated certain questions to M. Bordaz, and this man said that Mme. Slabodsky was his (tho speaker's) divorced wife. Mr. Cyril Henry Wiltshire identified the body of Mr. de Sanno, who, he said, was sixty-six and a manufacturer. His address was McKean Street, Philadelphia. Evidence .of identity in tho ease of Mr. Eitchie was given by Mr. T. !F. Gibson, of Hamilton, near Glasgow. Mr. Edward Henry Hillmari, of 'Air Street, Gidea, Park, the next .witness, said that he was. an aeroplane'proprietor and owner'of tho aeropiano which crashed. The machine wits tested before it left for, Paris. Mr. Wingfield was about to question him when tho coroner said" that any . question of liability or negljgence had nothing to do with tho Courts QUESTION FOB MINISTRY. Mr. Wingficld:, You do ~ not'propose to go into the cause of the accident? v Tho Coroner: So.' Tho cause of death is all I Have ■:. to find. Mr. Wingfield: It has been publicly stated that tho cause of the accident will- never bo known. The Coroner: That'is 6ntiroly a question, for the Air Ministry, and I am . advised that they will hold 'an inquiry if necessary. . f Mr. Hillman, answering Mr. ,' Wingfield, said that the pilot, Bannister, had been in his employment about sis weeks. - ■ Mr. Wingfield: Did ho toll you what his ' experience of airliners had been? Mr. Hillman: He does not have to tell mo. That goes to the underwriters who approve) the pilots. You rely on them?—lt is all I can do. 'Mr. Wingfield was asking a further question about Bannister's flying hours during the- week , when the coroner interposed saying, "I cannot allow this. My judicial function is only to inquire into the cause of death." . - Mr. Wingfield (to Mr. Hillman): What were tho pilot's wages? The Coroner: That has nothing to do .with it. . Mr. Wingfield: , The. occasions en which the Air Ministry inquiries are public aro so rare that it is unlikely one will have a further opportunity for asking questions.

The Coroner: X cannot allow thiK court to be used for airing certain views.

Mr. Atkinson: I should like to knowabout the test to,which the, aeroplane was put. The Coroner (to Mr. Hillman): Is it an absolute'regulation• that'all aeroplanes before starting have to be tested by tho ground ' engineer, who has a special licence? —Yes.

■Mr. Atkinson: -What wore the weather conditions at tho timo of departure? ' i

Mr. Hillman: Fairly good

There was nothing in your judgment in tho conditions to cause you to think of delaying tho departure "of the machine?— Definitely no.

HEARD A ROAR. Mr. Thomas James Lynes, chief officer of the steamer Biarritz, described Jiow they assisted two other vessels to recover bodies and'wreckage from the sea about.three miles off Folkestone.

"I asked the captain of one of the vessels, tho Leandcr, what he knew," said Mr. Lynes, ''and he said that he had heard a roar and a crash .like ah explosion and had found..wreckage. "I asked if he had seen /anything else and he saia he had not, as visibility was bad. ■

"The wreckage was mostly within a radius of one hundred yards. Visibility'was poor at the time and patchy, and thero was driving rain. The cloiids were only about three hundred feet up."

The Coroner: Did you see any charred wreckageT—None- whatever.

Afr. Hillmnn, at the close of tho inquest, his voice breaking ' with emotion, expressed liis personal sympathy with tho liercaved.