AEROPLANE WRECKED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20385, 14 October 1929, Page 10

AEROPLANE WRECKED.

FORCED LANDING MADE.

PILOT ALMOST UNHURT.

AVOIDANCE OF CHILDREN.

CLUB LOSES MOTH MACHINE.

ACCIDENT NEAR CHRISTCHURCH

BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday.

People in the Spreydon district were horrified at 11 o'clock this morning when an aeroplane, obviously having developed engine trouble, landed in a ploughed paddock and turned completely over. Residents of adjacent houses rushed out on hearing the crash and rescued Captain Noel Vale, of the Canterbury Aero Club, from the wreckage.

Captain Vale received a cut over the eye and was treated at the out-patients' department at the hospital and discharged. So slightly was he injured that his stay at the hospital did not occupy more than half an hour. The machine on the other hand was totally wrecked. According to Mr. J. McDowell, who saw the whole happening, the machine was stunting about a mile away from where the crash occurred. Captain Vale had just come out of a loop and the engine appeared to stall, for the propeller stopped completely. The Moth began to drop and the pilot made for Barrington Park.

The park, at the time, was full of children playing, and seeing an empty paddock on the other side of the road, the pilot made for it, just clearing the telegraph wires. He was running with the wind, an easterly, and was unable to make height. Therefore the only course left open was a landing. Ploughed Land Causes Capsize.

about two chains the paddock at the eastern end is in grass and here a good landing was made. The other half of the paddock had been ploughed last week, and as soon as it struck the rough patch the machine turned completely over, the tail flying up in the air. The propeller blades were snapped off short and the wings and fuselage crumpled up with the impact. Some spectators slated that the machine turned to get into the wind again, but this manoeuvie lacking in results, another turn following the wind was made. Some state also that after stopping dead the propeller started again, but by this time the Moth was too low to make a

By a piece of good fortune the machine did not catch fire, although it was lying upside down, giving the petrol an opportunity to escape on to the hot engine and exhaust pipe. No sooner had (he machine come to earth than hundreds of people rushed out from nearby houses. Many in the streets had followed the machine's flight and been curious as to the cause of the landing which, of course, they could not see. Airman's Prompt Action. Captain Vale was quickly extricated and his first action was to communicate with the club's aerodrome at Sockburn. Many were the comments on his prompt action in risking the ploughed field when Barrington Park would have offered an excellent landing spot. The risk of death was a great one, for the field is only the size of two sections, one half being very rough, and there was always danger of crashing into the telegraph wires or adjacent houses. Had Captain Vale landed in the park there would have been every possibility of death for one or more of the children playing in it. The machine was one of those supplied by the Government, and was slightly older than the club's other Moth. It was so damaged that it will mean almost a complete write-off. The club members will meet at an early date to discuss ways and means of purchasing another machine.

Everything Possible Done. The Moth was that used by Captain J. C. Mercer, instructor to the Aero Club, when he flew to the north some time ago. Captain Vale is an experienced air force pilot and is now a reservist. He made the machine's first flight for the morning. Mr. Norman, a recently-quali-fied pilot of the Aero Club, was the first on the list to fly the Moth, but lie deferred in favour of Captain Vale, who flew alone. The machine, a D.H. Moth, was quite a recent model, and had only been flown about 150 hours.

In the opinion of expert pilots Captain Vale did all possible under the circumstances. He made a good landing but the turnover was inevitable on such a rough ground. The aeroplane was virtually broken in half just behind the engine, and Captains Buckley and Burrell were quickly there to supervise salvage. Very soon men with hack saws and other tools cut away the engine for removal intact for examination and inquiry to determine the cause of the failure.

There was a great rush of souvenirhunters, men and girls carrying off painted pieces of fabric and light ply woodwork.