PLANE COLLISIONS AT AIR PAGEANT ON WESTPORT FIELD

Grey River Argus, 24 March 1947, Page 8

PLANE COLLISIONS AT AIR PAGEANT ON WESTPORT FIELD

(Our Own Correspondent) Fifteen aircraft on Saturday took part in a pageant at the Carters Beach aerodrome, at Westport, under the auspices of the Westport Aero Club. It was most successful, there being a large attendance, but it was marred by an accident which, though damaging planes, occasioned no human casualty. The Municipal Eand was in attendance and an impressive display of marching was given by a local women’s team. The highlights of the pageant were the acrobatic flights. The unfortunate incident occurred when a Fox Moth, piloted by Mr A. Sutton, of Blenheim, collided, when taking off, with a machine of the same type which was taxiing out from the parking area. A very serious accident was narrowly averted. The machine in charge of Sutton, which was the property of the West Coast United Aero Club, had gathered speed when it struck the other Fox Moth, the right wing of which was cut off by the propeller of the rising plane. The latter, however, nose-dived after the impact, and, in overturning, it struck another plane, a Whitney Straight. The last-named machine was only slightly damaged. The West Coast Club’s plane was itself extensively damaged, and its pilot and passenger as well as those who were in the Canterbury Fox Moth machine, escaped with a severe shaking.