AIR COY HEAD KILLED

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1944, Page 2

AIR COY HEAD KILLED

LONDON, May 14. Mr. A. L. Wykes, head of , the company producing the Auster psane, which is the “maid of all work plane of the British Army, was killed a. Leicester in view of thousands oi spectators, when piloting one oi his own machines at a military demonstration. Wykes was completing an aerobatics display when the plane crashed and burst into flames. His body was recovered from the charred wreckage. Wykes who was aged 45, .was a pilot in the last, war, and originator of the plane which became known as the “flying jeep.” The Auster plane, unarmed and unarmoureo with a maximum of only 225 miles per hour, depended for survival on an amazing degree of manoeuvrability.. It has been known to circle a tree with a baffled enemy sweeping above unable to train guns against the “sitting bird.” .