DOUBLE AIR TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20890, 4 June 1931, Page 6

DOUBLE AIR TRAGEDY.

VICE-MARSHAL KILLED.

THE SALUTE OF DEATH VAIN PARACHUTE LEAP. A drama of a salute of death and a vain parachute leap for life lay behind the announcement on April 23 that Air ViceMarshal Felton Vesey Holt, D.5.0., Officer Commanding the Air Defence of Britain, and Flight-Lieutenarit Moody, his pilot, were killed when their Moth machine came in collision in mid-air with a Siskin fighter at Selhurst Park, four miles from the Tangmere Aerodrome, near Chichester. The pilot of the Siskin fighter, Sergeant Charles George Wareham, was able to "limp" to the aerodrome with one of his wings damaged, and land safely. A squadron of eight single-seater fighters had been ordered op to escort the air vice-marshal for a few miles and then give the usual salute as thev parted. The squadron dipped in salute over Selhurst Park, on Lord Woolavington's estate, when the ti:riy Moth was at a height of 1500 ft.—and as they left outside fighter in the formation came in collision with the air vice-marshal's machine, and the Moth turned into a death spin to earth. Parachute Uised Too Late. After the machine had fallen 1000 ft., the vice-marshal wa<i seen to leap from the aeroplane and tug at the release band of his parachute. It was too late. The parachute was just beginning to open a« he crashed to earth like a stone. His body was found several yards away. Lieutenant Moody died in the wreckage. The tragedy occurred four minutes after the vice-marshal's machine had taken oB from the aerodrome, wliere he had inspected Nos. 1 and 43 Squadrons, ■which were under his command. He had flown from Northolt, his headquarters, that morning, and was returning. The fighter involved in the collision was one be had inspected in the morning.. The aeroplane had struck a small bare patch in the middle of a thickly-wooded area of the Downs. If it had crashed only a few yards away the branches of the trees would probably have broken the impact, and the lives of the air vicemarshal and the.pilot might have been saved. A vivid story of |;he tragedy was told by a woman who watched it from the South Downs. "Eight machines flew over us in perfect formation," she said, "and as I was remarking how beautiful they looked we saw another aeroplane approaching them. Then one of the outside aeroplanes in the formation and the approaching machine seemed to touch. One swooped downwards, looped the loop, and then disappeared over the cresfc of a hijlock. We waited breathlessly, hoping to see it reappear against the sky-line, but there was no sign. "As the aeroplane rushed downwards a figure detached itself, but I suppose he was too near the ground for his parachute to open." Mr. J. Chapman, another eye-witness, said: "When we found Air Vice-Marshal Holt he was lying on the ground completely covered by the parachute, which had failed to save Ms life. The airplane was upside down and was smashed almost to atoms." Evidence at the Inquest. _ Flight-Lieutenant E. H. Bellairs, in giving evidence at tihe inquest, said: "I was personal assistant fo .the air vicemarshal and we were flying back from Tangmere to Uxbridge. I was in an escorting aeroplane. I took off before him and stayed over the aerodrome waiting for him. I was at a greater height, but kept him in sight. A squadron came up from behind me and I saw it when slightly ahead of me go into a normal salute dive. My view of the air vice-marshal's machine was obscured for a few seconds. "As the squadron passed I saw the air vice-marshal's machine on its back and beginning to spin. This was immediately corrected by the pilot. The normal consequence of correcting a spin is a dive. I saw the air vice-marshal get out of the machine and his parachute trailed up behind him. It was just beginning to inflate as he hit the ground. About 50ft. more and he would been safe." Pilot-Sergeant Charles George Wareham said that the formation of * the squadron was V-shaped and he was the farthest oat on the left. After they dived in salute ho felt an impact on his left wing. "I immediately throttled back my engine," he said, "and looked over the left side. I saw a machine flash past me. I did not see it again." Squadron-Leader L. H. Slatter said that his squadron dived in formation to a Moth aeroplane which he took to' be the air vice-marshal's. He did not know that the second Moth with the air vicemarshal's personal assistant had left the aerodrome and he did not see it in the air. When he returned to the aerodrome he learned that he had saluted the wrong machine and also that . Sergeant Wareham had been in collisiqn. Pilot-Officer P. B. Coote said Wareham did nothing wrong. If he had been flying alone he might have seen the Moth, but he was watching his flight-commander, and could not see o:i one side. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, adding that there was no blame attachable to anyone in the squadron.