AIR CRASH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20526, 9 April 1941, Page 12

AIR CRASH

MACHINES COLLIDE TWO MEN KILLED INSTRUCTOR AND PUPIL EX-NEW ZEALANDER HURT SYDNEY, April 6. Ail instructor and a pupil were killed when two Royai Australian Air Force Tiger Moth training aircraft collided in mid-air yesterday over The Lakes gol! course during instrument flying practice. Victims who were in the same aeroplane were Flight-Sergeant Jack Holt. aged 24, married, formerly of Victoria, and Leading - Aircraftman Thomas Elliott Mays Hodge, aged 25, single, formerly of England. Occupants of the other aircraft were Pilot-Officer John Robert Cherry, aged 26, married, formerly of New Zealand, who suffered lacerations to the forehead. and John Henry Stephen Pettett, aged 22, married, of Sydney, who was uninjured. Aeroplanes Meet Head-on The official account of the accident stated:—“The two Moths took oil from Mascot Aerodrome separately at about 8.15 a.m. to-day. They were engaged in instrument flying practice, and were operating independently of each other. At 0.5 a.m., flying at about 1150 ft. over The Lakes course, they collided. The collision was practically head-on. “The Moth in which Holt (instructor) and .Hodge (pupil) were flying dived straight to the ground. Botii men were killed, and the Moth was wrecked. The other aircraft made a crash landing on the golf course. It turned over, and Pettett (pupil) escaped injury, but Cherry (instructor) suffered cuts to the forehead. The Moth was extensively damaged.” A Terrific Impact

First to the scene of the blazing aeroplane was Mr. J. Davenport, who conducts a refreshment kiosk on The Lakes golf course. “The aeroplanes appeared to touch in mid-air," he said.

“Then one of them began to spin away toward the ground with a portion oi its wing missing. The other swung in toward the course, apparently to find a landing place. “The first aeroplane struck the links with a terrific impact, and immediately flames shot up. I rushed straight to the machine to get the men away. When I arrived I found both dead. The other aeroplane, meanwhile, had made a landing some distance away, but it overturned.”