CRASH INTO HARBOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 101, 30 April 1937, Page 10

CRASH INTO HARBOUR

MEN IN AEROPLANE

SYDNEY QUAYSIDE THRILL

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ■'■■;. SYDNEY, April 24.

A pilot and passenger in a Tiger ■Moth aeroplane had a remarkable es-' cape when it crashed from a height of 1100 ft into the water of Circular Qviay, the busiest bay of Sydney Harbour. They had been farewelling a passenger on an outgoing iirier, and the plane got into a spin from which the pilot could not correct it before it struck the water. The plane disappeared into about 30ft of water, and the two young men > had a desperate struggle to free themselves to escape drowning.

The pilot was Geoffrey Sattler, 25, and his passenger Allen Woodhill, 21. Both men. were strapped in the cockpit, and later told a dramatic story of their struggle to get free of the sinking plane. ; Both are employed by the Vacuum Oil Company, and they went in. a personal capacity to bid farewell to the general manager of -that company (Mr. D. S. Aarons), who was leaving for the east by the Nieuw Holland. The large steamer, which was crowded with passengers, was about to pull out into the stream as the plane circled overhead. The wharf was crowded with friends of the passengers, many of whom were watching the plane, which struck an air pocket. This caused it to go into a spin. In trying to correct this, the pilot put it into a tail spin, and it dropped straight into the harbour at a speed of fifty miles an hour. It struck the water about 25 yards from the wharf. Passengers on the Nieuw Holland crowded to the side of the vessel, and many of the women screamed. Others leaned over the ship's rail and called "Help them."

Three workmen who had rushed to the nearest point dived in and swam to where the plane had disappeared. Woodhill was the first of the piano's occupants to come to the surface, and as the three rescuers reached the spot, Sattler also appeared. Both were dazed and bleeding, but Sattler showed great courdge by going to Woodhill's assistance. He caught hold of him, and was able to give him just sufficient support to keep him afloat. "Keep afloat, son," he shouted to Woodhill. "I'm* terribly sorry for putting you in the harbour this way." A small ferry boat was passing nearby,.and a line was thrown to the men, who in a few minutes were taken to a Circular Quay wharf. "Don't let anybody touch me until I get a telephone and let my mother know I'm all right," said Sattler. UNDER TfiiE SURFACE. "I had just looked over the side to see how far we were from the ship when we bumped heavily," said Sattler later, in an interview. "The plane went into a left-hand spin. I corrected her with the rudder, and she spun round in the opposite direction. I must have over-corrected her. We were 1100 ft up and the plane fell sharply. I saw the wharf buildings looming up towards us, and attempted to get clear. If we had been 20 or 30 yards higher when we began to fall I think we would have got out of it, because the plane had begun to rise just as she hit the water. As I shouted 'Look out' to Woodhill, we crashed. We were both strapped into the cockpit. I struggled ■to free myself as the plane sank. I held my breath until I could hold it no longer. I don't remember coming to. the surface or being rescued."

Woodhill said that he remembered nothing after the plane hit the water until he heard Sattler shouting, "We will have to swim for it." "I was almost suffocating," said Woodhill. "I vaguely remember setting out to swim in what I thought was the direction of the wharf when we were picked up. When Sattler shouted, 'Look out,' just before we hit the water, I just held on until we were under the water, and then struggled to free myself. I was just about choking ■ when I managed to get to the surface. We could not have been long under water, because I did not breathe once while I was under water." .

Saltier suffered scalp lacerations and bruises and Woodhill minor cuts and bruises. Both were in hospital lor only a few hours.