Tiger Moth Crashes on Test Flight

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 49, 28 February 1938, Page 7

Tiger Moth Crashes on Test Flight

Hobsosville Commandant Taken to Hospital MACHINE EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED F«r Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. While on a test flight at Hobsonville yesterday morning, a new Tiger Moth aeroplane piloted by Flight-Lieutenant Anthony G. Lester, officer commanding the Hobsonville air base, crashed into the water near the wharf and was extensively damaged. The officer, who was flying solo, received injuries to the head and he was picked up by Mr. A. J. Collings, who happened to be in the vicinity at the time in his launch. The mishap occurred five minutes after the machine had taken off on its initial flight. The Tiger Moth is a new type of training machine in New Zealand, and it was assembled at Hobsonville only last week. A good take-off was made, and the mishap occurred when Flight-Lieuten-ant Lester was circling around the aerodrome gaining height, As soon as the machine struck the water Mr. Collings took his launch to the spot where it crashed and found Flight-Lieutenant Lester had extricated himself from the machine, which rapidly submerged. The pilot was taken to hospital suffering from a severe scalp wound; also head and rib injuries. His condition iu not serious. The machine, which was extensively damaged, was later salvaged. YOUNG PILOT KILLED CRASH DURING AEROBATICS Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. When an aeroplane in which he was performing aerobatics in the Prebbleton district this morning, failed to straighten after a spin and crashed in a field, the sole occupant, Clifford Albert Burmister, single, aged 22, of Christchurch, was killed almost instantly. The machine, a new Miles Magister monoplane ZK-AFA, was completely wrecked. Burmister had about 22 hours of flying to his credit and some 10 hours solo. He was a trainee of the Canterbury Aero Club under the Government civil reserve scheme. The machine went into a spin from the top of a loop. Burmister had done dual aerobatics earlier in the morning. Mr. K. Hammond, a nearby resident,

said he thought the pilot was trying to straighten out when he struck the ground. The machine was not falling at a very steep angle. He considered it went into a spin about 750 or 1000 feet up.

Burmister died a few after being taken from the wreckage. He was sitting in the rear cockpit. The undercarriage was torn from the machine and both wings smashed. The power unit was torn from the fuselage and the front of the cockpit was crushed but the tail unit is almost intact.