FOUR AIRMEN KILLED

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 October 1944, Page 6

FOUR AIRMEN KILLED

BOMBER CRASHES IN N.Z.

WELLINGTON, October 26. Four members of th& Royal New Zealand Air Force lost their lives this morning when a Royal New Zealand Air Force Ventura bomber on a crosscountry training flight crashed about four miles north-east of Whenuapai. A fifth member of the crew suffered, ■serious burns and was removed to station, sick quarters at Whenuapai. The -men were:— KILLED Flight Sergeant Edward Thomas Brightwell, the pilot. Wife, Mrs A. R. Brightwell, of Otorohanga. Flight Sergeant James Alexander Pedersen, the navigator. Mother, Mrs A. Pedersen, of Dunedin. Sergeant Russell Trevor Robbie, air gunner. Mother, Mrs W. E. Robbie, of Wanganui. Sergeant Harold Edwin Mauger, air gunner. Wife, Mrs P. L. Mauger, of Christchurch.

INJURED '

Flight Sergeant Archibald Malcolm Charles Alexander, wireless operatorair gunner. Mother, Mrs M. H. Alexander, of Christchurch. His condition is serious.

Flight Sergeant Brightwell was farming on his own account at Otorohanga before he enlisted in the Army. He joined the R.N.Z.A.F. in January, 1943. He was aged 29. His secondary education was obtained at the Palmerston North Boys’ High School and the Woodville District High School. He qualified as a pilot and served in the Pacific war theatre.

Flight Sergeant Pedersen, who was born in Dunedin in 1923, joined the R.N.Z.A.F. reserve in August, 1941. He ’was transferred from the Army to the Air Force in July, 1942, and his training as an observer was completed in Canada. He had completed one tour of duty in the Pacific. In civil life Flight Sergeant Pedersen was a dairy assistant. Sergeant Robbie ' joined the R.N.Z.A.F. in June, 1943, on transfer from the Army. He was aged 20, and before entering military service was employed in farming. His- secondary education was obtained at the Wanganui Collegiate School. Sergeant Mauger, after home service in the Army, entered the R.N.Z.A.F. in August, 1943, and trained as an air gunner. He was born in 1917, and was a mechanic by occupation. He was a well-known wrestler, and won a South Island bantam-weight championship.