Disaster Overtakes Air Force Flying Boat

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 40, 18 February 1935, Page 7

Disaster Overtakes Air Force Flying Boat

Crash in Mountainous Country of

Sicily

Nine Occupants Killed

(British Official Wireless.)

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Feb. 15. The Air Ministry has received information that the Singapore flying boat K 3595, which. was flying to-day from Naples to the Royal Air Force seaplane base at Calafrana (Malta), is reported to have crashed near Messina, in Sicily. The service personnel on the, boat numbered eight, and there were also on board one technical official from the Royal Air Craft establishment at Farnborough. Misfortune attending her from the start culminated when K 3595 crashed m a fog on a hillside of the Mandrazzi Spur, near the village of San Filippo at 11.15 in the morning. Apparently the pilot lost his bearings in the clouds during a storm. The disaster was not witnessed. The wreck ignited and all the occupants are believed to have been burnt to death, namely, two officers, six men, and one technician, including FlightLieutenant Beatty, a half-brother of Lord Beatty. A local carter discovered the burnt and twisted wreckage and salved a piece of the machine, which he showed to the San Filippo police as evidence of the tragedy. Members of the Bed Cross, police, firemen, and civilians hastened to the scene. Continuous rains and absence of roads impeded the rescuers who, after a three hours’ mountain journey, extricated four charred corpses, including both officers. The remainder are believed to be trapped in the metal hull. The firemen continued a torchlight search until the rain forced an abandonment until morning. K 3592 had accompanied the wrecked craft from Naples, where the squadron was delayed since January 26 by influenza and the need of awaiting spare parts from England due to a defective engine aboard K 3595. She and K 3592

departed early in the morning, leaving the others, which are still at Naples, to follow later. K 3592 reached Malta at 10.50 and reported that she had last seen her companion near Messina at 9 o’clock but, missing her over Sicily, had turned back. She failed to find her and sent out a wireless message that shortage of petrol compelled the resumption of her flight to Malta. The Italian authorities intercepted this message and first suggested disaster. The Royal Air Force head-quar-ters at Malta vainly sought news from the Sicilian wireless stations. K 3592 was ordered to turn back to search, but the weather rendering her efforts fruitless she returned to Malta. The British Vice-Consul at Naples is going to San Filippo by plane. The Admiralty has despatched a warship to Messina. K 3595 was one of the four Singapore four-engined flying boats leisurely flying to Singapore to re-cquip the air base. Flight-Lieutenant Beatty served in the Navy during the war and transferred to the Air Force in 1920. He was one of the most experienced flying boat pilots. The wife of Reginald Penn, technical officer, heard the news from a wireless set and collapsed. The Times’ Naples correspondent says Penn replaced Penny, another member of the crew, ten minutes before departure. The machines, by wireless, arranged to separate just before the crash because the fog prevented visual contact. The cruiser Durban from Malta arrives at Messina to-morrow in order to embark tho airmen’s remains for interment in England. The News-Chronicle’s Messina correspondent says the San Filippo district is so isolated that a motor-car is unknown. The firemen took 21 hours on donkey back to reach the scene of the disaster which is the worst experienced by the Air Force for four years.