ENGLISH AIR TRAGEDY

Grey River Argus, 4 October 1934, Page 5

ENGLISH AIR TRAGEDY

CROSS-CHANNEL PLANE Seven Lives Lost (Aus. & NZ. Cable Assn.) LONDON, October 2. Seven were killed, including the pilot, when a Hillman’s Airways aeroplane crashed in the Channel alongside the Channel steamer Biarritz, which immediately began rescue work, and brought the bodies to Folkestone. Two of the passengers killed were women, including an English girl, Miss Budden, aged IS. The plane left the Abridge aerodrome for Paris, at 10 o’clock in the morning, in blinding rain and mist. The disaster came soon after it reached the Channel. One body has not been recovered. The only part of the aeroplane salvaged was a small piece of a wing, and also the log book. A German cargo boat, which assisted to recover the bodies, heard the plane, and then the crash. Shattered baggage was found, and the bodies were mutilated and unrecognisable, suggesting a mid-air explosion, but the Folkestone Marine Superintendent is of the opinion that the injuries were due to the terrific impact with the water.

The pilot, Walter Bannister, had a distinguished war and civil flying record. Ho leaves a wife and three children. The passengers, apart from Miss Budden, are believed to be French.

The plane crashed into the Channel three miles from Folkestone, while proceeding from Abridge (Essex) to Le Bourget. The wreckage was found by the German steamer “Leander,” and the cross-Channel steamer “ Biarritz” brought five bodies into Folkestone. Visibility was very poor at the time of the disaster. Three of the passengers were French, two British, and one American. This was the first accident the Hillman Airways have bad. Passengers on the Biarritz relate

that the sea was littered with wreckage. The bodies of two women were floating, almost nude, as though the clothes had been torn off by the explosion, and a man’s body was headless. passengers, overcome by the gruesome spectacle, wept, and many fainted. THEORY OF THE CAUSE. LONDON, October 3. Aeronautical experts advance the theory that the pilot of the Hillman plane was flying low, and that, coming out of a low cloud, he found himself only a few feet above the water, and was forced to execute a violent manoeuvre, which proved too great a strain for the machine. QUEENSLAND PLANE MISSING. WITH THREE ABOARD. (Received October 3 at 10 p.m.) BRISBANE, October 3. With two passengers aboard, the Quantus aeroplane ‘ ‘ Atlanta ’ ’ is missing between Longreach and Winton. Several machines have already returned after making a fruitless search. The Atlanta is a four-seater, and is piloted by G. Chapman. The passengers are Mr. R. Henrickson, of the Shell Oil Coy., and Mr R. McKloe, who is the head of the Sandalwood Syndicate.