PLANE HITS MOTOR BUS

Evening Star, Issue 22329, 4 May 1936, Page 10

PLANE HITS MOTOR BUS

LANDING MADE ON ONE WHEEL TWO JOURNALISTS INJURED ACCIDENT AT MOUNT COOK AERODROME Having torn its way through the roof of a large motor bus, and injuring two journalists seated in the bus, an Air Force Avro aeroplane from Christchurch miraculously avoided crashing at the Mount Cook aerodrome yesterday (says the Christchurch ‘Press’). Minus a landing wheel, half the undercarriage, and one elevator the aeroplane was brilliantly handled by its pilot, Flying-officer F. Truman, who flew to Wigram aerodrome to make a remarkable landing without further damage.

This accident, which occurred during an aerobatic display, marred the official opening of the Mount Cook aerodrome, near the Hermitage. Harry Wigley, son of the managing director of the Mount Cook Tourist Company, was the passenger in the Avro. 'Max P. Whatman, a reporter of the ‘ Star-Sun,’ Christchurch, . and Reginald N. Downes, of the literary staff of the ‘ Herald,’ Timaru, were those injured in the motor bus. Both received shock and cuts from flying glass. Whatman’s injuries were the more severe, and after treatment on the ground he was brought by aeroplane to Christchurch and treated as an out-patient at the Christchurch Public Hospital. Downes also received treatment for his injuries, and was taken to the Hermitage, where he later recovered from the shock. The accident occurred almost immediately after the official opening by Mr D. Barnes, M.P. Mr and Mrs Barnes were taken for the first flight in the Canterbury Aero Club’s Fox Moth, and shortly afterwards Flying-officer Truman left the ground in the Avro, with Wigley as passenger, to give an exhibition of aerobatics. DIVE ENDS IN ACCIDENT. Climbing to an altitude of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet above the aerodrome the pilot threw his machine about, rolling, looping, and banking. Then he turned towards the crowd from the direction of Rotten Tommy and dived from about 3,000 feet over the heads of the spectators. He missed a Gipsy Moth belonging to the Canterbury Aero Club by a few feet only, and flew up the Tasman Valley. He turned back and again dived. The aeroplane roared at a terrific spegd just over the heads of the spectators, and the left side of the undercarriage ploughed its way through the roof of a motor bus belonging to the Mount Cook Tourist Company, in the back seat of which sat Whatman and Downes. The sheet-metal roofing of the motor bus was ripped like paper and all the windows shattered. Whatman and Downes, were cut by flying glass, and Whatman, who was nearer the side struck, suffered severely from shock. His spectacles were smashed on his face; and he was fortunate to escape serious injury to his eyes. REMARKABLE RECOVERY FROM IMPACT.

In tearing a path through the roof of the motor bus the left landing wheel and that side of the under-carriage were shorn off. Pieces of wreckage smashed the left elevator, leaving the fabric fluttering in the slip-stream. The aeroplane staggered, but the pilot kept the nose up and quickly regained altitude.

The spectators, including many other pilots, were amazed that the aeroplane remained in the air. They said afterwards that if it had struck a few inches lower a crash beside the motor bus would ha;-e been inevitable.

Plying mejl on the ground quickly realised that the pilot might not know the extent of »he damage to his undercarriage. The landing wheel that had been broken off was rushed to the centre of the runway and displayed as prominently as possible. , For several minutes the Avro circled above the spectators. Then the _ pilot waved vigorously in the direction of Christchurch, and a few minutes later he disappeared over the adjoining range. Two nurses were among the spectators, and they and Dr W. Hellenthal, German Consul at Sydney, and a visitor to the Hermitage, ga»c the injured man attention. Downes was taken to the Hermitage, and Mr J. J. Duscli, commercial pilot to the Canterbury Aero Club, left for Christchurch in the Fox Moth with Whatman as passenger. BRILLIANT ONE-WHEEL LANDING. Having been warned by Hermitage officials of the probable arrival of the aeroplane, Wigram officials were prepared with medical and fire-fighting appliances when, the crippled Avro circled the aerodrome approximately an hour after the accident. Flying-officer Truman brought the aeroplane up into the southwest wind, and, taking plenty of room, touched ground with the wheel and the tip of the right wing. He held the wing on the ground as long as he could, and the aeroplane had slowed up to about 20 miles an hour before it slowly toppled over 'on to the left wing and slid, along the ground to a standstill —a perfect landing in the circumstances.

As the wheel and the wing touched the ground the aeroplane swung round in a half-circle. The wings were not in the least crumpled by trailing on the ground, and the landing was effected without even damaging the propeller. The landing wheels of the aeroplane are independent of each other, and are fixed separately to the fuselage. There is no common axle or bracing frame, and this probably accounts for the right landing wheel being undamaged. POSSIBLE CAUSE OF MISHAP. This was the first visit that Flyingofficer Truman had made to the Jand*ing ground at Mount Cook, and it is thought probable that the peculiar air currents in those parts, and a possible down draft, may have made him miscalculate his distance from the ground. It was stated by a pilot who has landed on that ground that the rarefied air makes it necessary to flatten out of a dive much higher than when approaching an aerodrome at sea level. Flying-officer Truman is a native of Auckland and joined the Koval .New Zealand Air Force in February this year. He had previously held a shortterm commission with the Koval Air Force in England, and thus had many flying hours to his credit. He had not attended refresher courses since his return from England some time ago.

The Avro 626 is an aeroplane specially designed for the complete instruction of military flying personnel in all duties. It can be equipped for dual instruction, blind flying, offensive and defensive gunnery, bombing, photography, telegraphy, and navigation. Jt is a two-seat training biplane, powered with an Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engine. Equipped for flying Instruction, it has a maximum speed of 130 miles an hour and a cruising speed of 108 miles an hour. The undercarriage is of the divided type, each wheel being mounted on a long telescopic strut with a pair of radiusrods attached to the centre-line on the underside of the fuselage.