THRILLING SIGHT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 124, 23 April 1927, Page 9

THRILLING SIGHT

'PLANE OUT OF CONTROL'. PARACHUTE DESCENT. MACHINE BURSTS INTO FLAMES. V (By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received April 23, 10.25 a.m. RUGBY, April 22. An officer of the Royal Air Force made a parachute descent to-day from a height of 8000 feet and landed safely. He was Flight-Lieutenant David Darcy Greig, of the Central Flying School. He had gone up from Kenley in a single-seater fighting ’plane to carry out special' tests. Suddenly the machine was seen to be out of control and to be spinning towards the ground at a terrific speed. For some moments Lieutenant Greig could be seen makiijg a desperate, but vain, effort to regam control. A few seconds later, when the machine appeared to be falling like a stone, the airman was ■ seen to jump from the pilot’s seat. He, too, was falling like a stone when, to the relief of the onlookers, his parachute opened and he made a prolonged, but safe, descent, reaching the ground about two miles from his starting point. The aeroplane struck the earth several minutes and _ burst into flames.—British official wireless.