EYE-WITNESSES OF CRASH

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 April 1948, Page 5

EYE-WITNESSES OF CRASH

Agency correspondents in Berlin say the tragedy was witnessed by numerous R.A.F. officials at Gatow airport. These eye-witnesses said that both planes were Aying at between 500 and 1000 feet. Visibility was six miles. <-. • + They declared that the Soviet fighter dived behind the Viking, came up underneath the passenger plane, then rose too sharply as the Viking was making a turn and sheared oft one of the Viking’s wings. The Viking dived to earth and exploded. Debris was scattered over an acre of young wheat, just 500 yards inside the Soviet zone and five miles from Berlin. “No Right”

One eye-witness said: “The Prussian had no right to be Aying there because he had not notified the FourPower Air Safety Centre of his intention.” s , , .„ , Russian planes were reported in earlier incidents to have dived at and circled a number of British planes, which were flying along the 25-mile corridor across the Soviet zone. These Russian planes passed as close as they could to the British planes in the tactics known to pilots as buzzIt is pointed out that, the Soviet fighter, known as a Yak, in todays crash was alone. There was no evidence that the Yak was out of control. , The Viking was on a regular routine flight and was not an extra plane put on operation as a result of the new Soviet transport restrictions. RAF. ambulances and doctors crossed the Soviet zonal border to the Viking. The first arrivals, however, had been German youths, who began to' loot the bodies for money and cigarettes. German police arrested several youths. Broken and Charred The bodies of the majority of the occupants of the Viking were so broken and charred as to be unrecognisable. . A typical German reaction in the vicinity was from a farmer, who, fearing Russian reaction, said: _ ‘ We don’t want to have seen anything. An R.A.F. officer said he believed the Yak fighter was engaged in aerobatics. Similar incidents involving American passenger planes 'had been 'reported and protests lodged with the Russian authorities. ; A British spokesman stated, that the Russians would not permit the removal of the bodies from the wreckage of the Viking. Russian soldiers stood guard round the British plane almost as soon as it fell. Nevertheless an R.A.F. squad reached the Viking before the Russian cordon formed and had laid-10 of the bodies peacefully beside a small pond, rhe British bodies will be taken to the British hspital in Berlin, when the Russians allow removal. Remnants of Russian Plane British officials, five and a-half hours after the crash, were allowed ) to examine the remnants of the Yak fighter. Russian tommy-gunners had tried to take possession of the Yak, although it is in the British sector, but a British general ordered them oft and allowed only one Russian guard to stay. German police pried the Russian pilot’s broken body out of the fightßr, but it is understood the Russians will not be allowed to remove the fighter’s wreckage from British territory. Russian Version The Russian administration issued the following communique in Berlin:

“The Russian military administration in Germany announces with deep iegret the unfortunate collision ol a British passenger aeroplane on its way to Berlin with a Soviet fighter plane, which was about to land at the Russian airport of Dahlof in the Russian zone. Both planes were desti oyed and the occupants killed.” Dahlof is five miles north-west of the British airport at Gatow, which is just over the border from the British sector of Berlin. British European Airways announced that after high-level discussions it has decided that the Viking flight to Berlin, via Hambury, from Northolt, will definitely take place as scheduled tomorrow. Twenty passengers are booked for the flight. . Ten will leave at Hamburg, the remainder completing the journey to Berlin. General Robertson cancelled his instructions for a fighter escort for British aircraft after a conference with Marshal Sokolovsky, who guaranteed British aircraft using the air corridor to Berlin would not be interfeied with. Earlier Report “There is an easier situation in Berlin as a result of the Russians’ indication of their willingness to discuss with the Americans ‘certain details’ concerning the movement of military trains between Berlin and the west and the Americans’ acceptance of the suggestion of talks, provided there is no boarding of American trains by Russians,” says the Berlin correspondent of The Times in an earlier message. Colonel R. A. Willard, commanding the American troops in Berlin, said that the Americans would restore to the Russians the use of the railway headquarters building in the American sector of Berlin, but “if the Russians try to put armed guards in there again without permission we will slap another cordon right back ° n The Americans rejected the Russian claim that they had to place armed sentries in the building because German criminals were scheming to destroy valuable records. , The Americans said that they could supply any armed protection required. When the Americans withdrew they left only a few German police posted at the entrances of the building. The Russians have begun to remove documents from the railway headquarters. It is not known whether they plan to move the headquarters.