TRIPLE AIR TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21292, 20 September 1932, Page 9

TRIPLE AIR TRAGEDY

ADDITIONAL DETAILS CRASH IN AUSTRALIA STORIES OF EYE-WITNESSES By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright SYDNEY, Sept. 19 Eye-witnesses of the triple flying tragedy yesterday near Bangalow, state that the aeroplane appeared to be in trouble and that tho pilot obviously intended to land. Hearing an explosion local people ran out in time to see a wing break from the machine.

Jules Moxon, airman, who was on the scene soon after the accident, said he thought tho final dive was caused by the breaking of the left, wing spar. Charles Langley said ho saw the aeroplane battling through blinding rain, lashed by a strong southerly wind. He said: "It was flying very low and it seemed that the pilot was trying to land. When the machine was nearing the ground it suddenly shot into the air again almost at right angles. Then the left wing came off and the aeroplane nosedived, spinning round twice before it crashed. The wreckage was hurled more than 100 yards around the scene of the crash."

The pilot, Mr. Virtue, was crushed in the twisted steelwork of the control seat, while in the wrecked fuselage were Captain Holden and Dr. Hamilton, every bone in their bodies being broken. Their heads were fractured in several places and the bodies were extricated with considerable difficulty. The watch on Mr. Virtue's wrist had stopped at 1.25 p.m. That was the time the residents heard the explosion.