FIRE AFTER CRASH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20637, 18 August 1941, Page 7

FIRE AFTER CRASH

BRITISH AIR DISASTER PLANE STRIKES ROAD (Reed. Aug. 16, 2 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 16. The Atlantic Command plane which crashed during the take-off with the loss of 22 lives, was rising clear when it suddenly began to lose height and struck the road at the edge of the aerodrome which was raised at this point. The aeroplane split up and caught fire. Three fire brigades, assisted by soldiers and the ground staff, tough, the fire. Only one man, a Californian, Mr. Errol Watson, was extricated alive. He died in the hospital. Captain Joseph Creighton Mackey, Kansas City, who is reported to have been killed with the same crash, was the sole survivor of the accident off Newfoundland when Sir Frederick Banting was killed. ■* The tragic death of Mr. Arthur Purvis is specially untimely when it is realised that within 24 hours he would have been in Washington to give the Minister of Supply, Lord Beaverbrook, the benefit of his exceptional experience in the present dicussion on the programme of war supplies for the Allies. , A statement from the Ministry ol Supply says that Mr. Purvis was well equipped by his career for the part he played so admirably last year as chairman of the British Supply Council in North America.