TRAINING CRASHES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 39, 15 February 1941, Page 6

TRAINING CRASHES

NO "COMPLACENCY"

REPLY TO CRITICISM

AUSTRALIAN LOSSES

(By Trans-Tasman Air Mail, from ■'The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, January 25,

The death of six members of the Royal Australian Air Force in three crashes during flying training accidents last weekend led to charges of "complacency" on the part of the Air Force administraf tion towards flying accidents. ; The accusations were made by speakers at the Australian Workers' Union meeting in. Brisbane * and a request, was made for a Royal Commission inquiry into Air Force affairs. The Air Force was vigorously defended by the Minister for Air.i Mr. McEwen, and the chairman .of the New South Wales R.A.A.F. Recruiting Drive Committee, Sir Donald Cameron. s The accidents resulted in the deaths of Pilot Officer Douglas Edmund Allan (21), Flying Officer Lionel Barton Hack (23), Leading Aircraftman Herbert John Powell (23), Leading Aircraftman Donald Andrew Veitch (25), and Leading Aircraftman Leonard Watson Turner (23). \ Flying Officer Hack and Leading Aircraftman Turner were killed near Barker's Vale, midway between Kyogle and Murwillumbah (N.S.W.), while engaged in a navigation exercise. In heavy cloud their machine crashed into the side of a mountain with such force that the nose and engine were buried to a depth of five feet. When the machine was found, among tall trees and huge boulders, the left wing was about 50 yards from the fuselage. The right wing had also been torn away from the machine by the force of the impact. Other parts were strewn over a radius of more than 50 yards. The search party had to dig the bodies from the soft earth. KILLED ON HEIGHT TEST. Leading Aircraftman Veitch was killed in an accident near Goodna (Queensland), while flying solo on a height test. The -aircraft dived into the ground and was completely destroyed. Pilot Officer Allan and Leading Aircraftmen Powell and Pope were killed when the aircraft in which they were engaged in gunnery practice dived into the ground a few miles south of the Evans Head Bombing and Gunnery School on the north coast of New South Wales. Eye-witnesses saw the aircraft dive steeply towards the ground. Search parties failed to find the crashed plane that day, and at dawn on the following day 50 airmen, .walking in line abreast at 80-yard intervals, renewed the search. They were wearing white shirts to aid detection, and kept in contact by shouting to each other every 50 seconds. The crashed aircraft i was discovered at the head of a gorge. | All members of the crew were dead, and the machine was irreparably damaged. "PUBLIC ENTITLED TO KNOW." The secretary tof the Queensland branch of the 'Australian Workers' Union, Mr. C. G. Fallon, led the attack on the Air Force administration. Three years ago his son Jack was killed in an Air Force accident in New South Wales. "The 'bright boys' in the south say flying accidents are incidental to the growth of our Air Force,"said Mr. Fallon. "Crashes may be unavoidable, but the public is entitled to know whether they could beavoided. It is regarded as disgraceful for a member -of the Air Force, and particularly for an officer, to say anything in disparagement of the service. It is his duty to protect it, smothering up things that are wrong. Would to God that by some means, even by tying up industry, we'could compel investigation into this thing." Giving an assurance that the crashes would "be investigated promptly, the Minister for Air, Mr. McEwen, said:. "The public can rest assured that no laxity of administration or discipline will be permitted to be a contributing factor to aircraft accidents, but it would be over-optimistic to expect a vast training programme to ,be completed without accident.- Strict rules are laid down for the conduct of training and operational flights, and every precaution is taken to see that each R.A.A.F. aircraft is efficient as skilled hands could make it. MINISTER'S ASSURANCE. "I do emphasise, however," said the Minister, "that unfortunate fatalities such as those reported this weekend are not—and will not be—regarded complacently in my department, and there will be no acceptance of the comfortable theory that they are inevitable." ; Sir Donald Cameron said that in most other countries which were at war reports of crashes and similar losses were heavily censored, and little was allowed to be published. In Australia, however, the public was: told frankly, fully, and as expeditiously as possible of Air Force accidents. "I do not speak lightly of these things," said Sir Donald Cameron. "My responsibilities are very 'great. I organised and launched appeals,for;young men which have resulted, in :thousands 'of recruits from every walk. in our-na-tional, life joining up—the flower !of Australia's manhood. If I were not fully satisfied, from my own. intimate i acquaintance with what is going on, { that everything humanly, possible ,is being done by the Government and the service: to train these men efficiently, and provide' them with the best equipment, I would relinquish my position tomorrow. As it is* I intend continuing to do all I can to assist in building up the force to the dimensions deemed necessary to ensure to the Empire complete mastery in the air: ,

"The Air v Force hides nothing and fears ndthing," added Sir Donald Cameron. "Instead of criticism it deserves the warmest approbation and support oi every man, woman, and child in the Commonwealth. It is doing a magnificent job. Every phase of its activity that can be made known without jeopardising public security and the efficiency of plans" and operations against the enemy is made available for publication."