RESCUE OF GIL AND MAN AFTER CRASH OF PLANE IN LYALL RAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23349, 4 September 1950, Page 6

RESCUE OF GIL AND MAN AFTER CRASH OF PLANE IN LYALL RAY

(P.A.) WELLINGTON. Sept. 4. A crippled Wellington Aero Clul) Chipmunk aircraft, ZK-AI’N, with two persons on board, cartwheeled into the choppy waters of Lyall Bay late on Saturday afternoon after the engine failed. The occupants spent a few nightmare minutes in the overturned aircraft when the canopy jammed, hut they were rescued.

Those in the aircraft were Mr. Ernest David Nicholson, the pilot, aged 23. machine operator, of 30 Tinakori Road Wellington, and Miss Nancy Malin, aged 20, student pilot, jeweller's assistant, of 41 Derwent Street. Island Bay. Mr. Nicholson is an Englishman and has been in New Zealand for three years. He has 20 hours of frying time Miss Malin has three hours 45 minutes of flying time.

Both are in hospital, Mr. Nicholson with shock and exposure and bruising, and Miss Malin similarly affected and with a dislocated jaw. The condition of botn is reported as satisfactory.

Lewis Ferris, aged 13. was collecting pumice on the beach when he saw the aircraft crash. He stripped to the waist and after a cold, exhausting swim of 300 to 400 yards, held up Miss Malin. who was badly shocked and exhausted, till help arrived. Eye-witnesses expressed the belief that the boy probably saved Miss Malin's life. BeaAen By Strong Wind

The aircraft was hauled from the water at mid-afternoon yesterday. It is considered to be almost a total loss. “The plane seemed perfectly normal when we took off.’’ said Mr. Nicholson. “At about 450 ft. the engine made a terrific racket and there was excessive vibration in the aircraft. It started to let down.

“I knew I could not make Evans Bay and the alternative, if I had kept going ahead, would have been to plunge into houses in Miramar.

“I decided that the best thing to do was to turn back and try to make the airfield or the Lyall Bay beach. I was relying on the engine to give me a burst to the airfield, but the strong northerly wind beat me. “I tried to bring her down as close to the shore as I could. The wind carried us out over the bay and we hit the water, I think first with the starboard wing, then turned over. “The cabin immediately filled with water. I tried to open the canopy fully to get out. but it was jammed. I pulled the jettison string, but it did not work. Occupants Released “I gave the canopy a mighty heave and wrenched it free,” continued Mr. Nicholson. “I released myself and slid to the after cockpit where Miss Malin was still strapped in. “I released her and pulled her out. We came up beneath the wing and I felt the way clear, hanging on to Nancy and the aircraft.

“About three minutes later the Chipmunk sank. Nancy could not swim. I was fully clothed and was feeling knocked out and tired. Nancy was getting very heavy.

"I hung on till a young boy came. He took Nancy from me. Then Alan Valois, Pat Millward, and my brother. Sydney Nicholson, swam out. “Sydney himself got into difficulties as he had gone in with all his clothes on. A dinghy came up behind us and picked us up and then went to the assistance of my brother. We were taken ashore and Nancy was given oxygen in the ambulance.

"Earlier I had been worried about her panicking, but she was a brick throughout.” Miss Malin said she knew that something was wrong when the engine “conked.” She gave a similar account of the events as Mr. Nicholson. She put her dislocated jaw back into place herself. It was easily and often dislocated, she said. Schoolboy Rescuer

Lewis Ferris, a robust lad. is a standard V boy. He said he saw the plane side slip toward Moa Point. The right wing hit the water and she turned right over.

“An old man told me to go out, but said he couid not help me, so I went on my own,” said Lewis. “It took me three or four minutes to get out there. I took the girl from the man and started back toward the shore with her. but she was too heavy, so I held her there by the hair.

“It seemed weeks that I held her. It was probably three or four minutes. Then someone took her o.T me. A dinghy took me in.

“I got dried, had a cup of tea and came home in a flying uniform.” Lewis seemed particularly thrilled over this last fact. He has been swimming since he was three years old and has been a member of the Maranui Surf and Life Saving Club for 2\ years. All'. S. A. McGuire, of 4 Moa Point, manned his lift. V-bottomcd dinghy with two others and rowed to flic rescue. lie was reticent about his part. Assistance of Dinghy

“We carried the boat down to the beach and had a lot of hard rowing,” he said. “We were blown off the course and had to turn against the wind to make the crashed aircraft.

"We brought back the pilot and the girl and the young boy. The girl would have been in a bad way if Hie young chap had not gone out there.” Aero club members worked from a launch until midnight to locate the Chipmunk. Yesterday when the tide had brought the aircraft closer to the shore into Bft. to 12ft. of water salvage efforts were more successful.'

Grappling hooks were firmly embedded and a rope was tied round the tail wheel. The Chipmunk was towed as close as possible to the shore and then dragged to the beach by a truck. Gaping gashes were rent in the wings—-probably by grappling hooks. The starboard wing was ripped from the fuselage and was badly battered. The nose, 100, was in a had stale. The propeller cap was partly wrenched away.

Aero club members decided to work all night to save the parts before corrosion set in.

The Chipmunk, ZKAPN, is one of two belonging to the club. The other was involved in a crash some time ago and is now being repaired. Chipmunks are enclosed double-cockpit monoplanes will sleek linos.