POIGNANT AIR DRAMA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

POIGNANT AIR DRAMA.

£SO FOR 20 YEARS' WORK

CRASH OF COUPLE'S HOPES. With the sale at the lieston Aerodrome, Middlesex, a few weeks ago, for £SO of a revolutionary new aeroplane, the curtain came down on one of the most poignant dramas in the history of flying, says the Daily Herald. Nearly 20 years ago Mr. J. G. Navarro, the designer of Britain's war-time planes, and his wife began work on plans for a fool-proof aeroplane. Four years ago, satisfied that they had accomplished their aim, they started to build a machine that they claimed would not ,_spin, would not nose-dive, and would not side-slip. Experts saw the plane, and were satis-, fied. Sir Sefton Brancker, just before he was killed in the R 101 crash, said he considered it a very big advance in aircraft design. The machine was finished. It flew. Certain minor modifications were needed, however, before it could pass the Air Ministry test. Then came the first warning of the tragedy. There was no more money.

Bills mounted up. The couple who had worked so hard, sinking their personal fortuno in the project, failed after they had practically realised their dream. Iheir new plane had to be handed over to the bailiffs before it could be finished. After the machine had been sold Mr. Navarro walked sadly from the hangar where he had watched his hopes crash. His wife had not dared to face this last act of the tragedy. " I'm going home to tell her," Mr. Navarro said. "It has hurt me, this, but it is going to hurt her more. . . ."