Two Airmen Killed: Mosquito Hits Sea At Terrific Speed

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22728, 28 August 1948, Page 5

Two Airmen Killed: Mosquito Hits Sea At Terrific Speed

(P.A.) Palmerston N., Aug. 27. Plunging at terrific speed into the sea about half a mile from the shore at Himatangi this morning, a Mosquito aircraft on a test flight with authorised low flying from Ohakea was completely wrecked.

The pilot, Flight Lieutenant George Ronald Simich, D.F.C., and his companion, Flight - Sergeant Victor Horton Baird, were killed instantly.

The accident occurred at 9.40 a.m. and by midday debris from the wrecked machine was strewn along the beach for a distance of 200 yards. Fragments of human remains found among the wreckage indicated clearly the fate of the unfortunate crew. Cause Not Known

No information is available as to the cause of the accident.

Eye-witnesses detected nothing amiss with the behaviour of the plane prior to its mad plunge. The Foxton police and Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel from Ohakea are standing by awaiting the turn of the tide which is expected to bring more wreckage and probably what is left of the bodies ashore.

A Wellington message says a resident of Himatangi Beach in a telephone interview with the Evening Post said the plane had been circling the beach. It had completed a victory roll and attempted another. "We do not know precisely what happened,’ but the nose suddenly dived down,” he said. “There was a big white cloud of spray from the sea and we heard a terrific bump. The plane disintegrated. One Body Recovered

“The plane crashed fairly close to the shore but nobody actually saw it hit the sea.

“By 1.30 p.m. one body, believed to be that of the pilot, had been recovered and residents are keeping a watch for the second body. Flight-Lieutenant Simich was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Oarin Simich, Or;V tea, near Auckland. Educated at the Sacred Heart College and Auckland University College, he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force shortly after the outbreak of war. He trained in New Zealand and left for Britain in July, 1940. He served with No. 75 (New Zealand) Bomber Squadron based in Britain and was awarded the D.F.C. in July, 1941, and mentioned in dispatches in June of the following year. A month later he was shot down in a bomber over Germany and was taken prisoner. He was liberated in 1945 and returned to New Zealand in December of that year. He recently married an Australian a former W.A.A.F. who now resides in Denbigh street. Feilding.