CANTERBURY PLANE CRASH

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1940, Page 6

CANTERBURY PLANE CRASH

TWO MEN KILLED. [per press association.] WELLINGTON, December 11. ■ Two air pilots, under training, were killed instantly, near Leithfield Beach, Canterbury, when an R.N.Z.A.F. aircraft crashed and caught fire at 10 o’clock this morning. The occupants were Leading Aircraftman Basil Rawdon Hastings Sharp, whose father, F. J. Sharp, resides at 87 Lytton Road, Gisborne, and Leading Aircraftman Leslie Wright, whose mother, Mrs. L. Wright, resides at 44 Weka Street, Frankton Junction. The aircraft, which was piloted by Sharp, was engaged in an instrument flying triangular cross-country flight from Wigram. It crashed at the junction of Leithfield Beach Road and the Main North Road. The cause of the accident is unknown. A court of inquiry will be held.

TOKOMARU TRAGEDY. PALMERSTON N., December 11. At the inquest concerning the death of Pilot Officer Thomas Kirk, 26; who ’ h vas killed in an aeroplane crash at V’okomaru, on November 14, the evidence of police searchers showed that the wreckage was spread over a wide area, the machine crashing into ■ a fock face. One witness expressed the opinion that Kirk’s death occurred before the plane was burnt, deceased’s skull being fractured. A verdict was returned that Kirk was accidentally killed.