DEATH OF AIRMAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 May 1941, Page 8

DEATH OF AIRMAN

INQUEST INTO CRASH NEAR HELENSVILLE [United Press Association! Auckland, May 13. An inquest into the death of Leading Aircraftman Edwin Chaytor Moore, Royal New Zealand Air Force, who was killed when a Tiger Moth from Whenuapai Air Base crashed and caught fire at Rewcti, near Helensville, was held before the city coroner, Mr Hunt, S.M. Moore, who was aged 23, had been in the Air Force since Jan- ) uary. L. D. Holst, Reweti. farmer, said he saw two machines flying fairly high toward Helenseville. One turned to the right and circled to about 200 feet from the ground. Though it was flying slowly, the pilot appeared to have control. When flying into the wind it suddenly slipped to the left and crashed, the left wing-tip and engine appearing to strike the ground at the same time. Within a few seconds of the crash the aeroplane was on fire. He arrived about five minutes later and found a number of Territorial soldiers there. The aeroplane had been burnt out and the body of the pilot, severely burned, was at the side of the machine, having been thrown out by the impact. Pilot Officer Renolds, instructor at Whenuapai, said he had authorised Moore to make a solo training flight of 45 minutes. The machine was in good serviceable condition, and witness had himself flown it for two hours the same morning. Moore was a pilot slightly below the average in ability, but was fully capable of solo flying. Squadron Leader Bolt, senior engineer officer at I-lobsonville Air Base, said he examined the machine after the crash, and found the actual air and control intact, with nothing wrong. The engine bad been too badly burnt to enable him to determine if there had been any trouble. It was generally considered that the pilot had lost control of the machine near the ground. “There is no one alive to tell us what actually happened,” said Mr Hunt, who returned a finding that the cause of death was the result of a machine flown by Moore becoming out of control and accidentally crashing.