AIR CRASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21295, 23 September 1932, Page 8

AIR CRASH

PLANE HITS HOUSE FIRE FOLLOWS IMPACT FLIER SERIOUSLY HURT ESCAPE OF COMPANION RESCUE FROM FLAMES GREAT PLUCK SHOWN [BY TELEGRAPH—OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON, Thursday While returning from the air pageanj at, Levin this morning a Wellington Moth aeroplane piloted by Arnaud H. de Tourettes, accompanied by Lewis Taylor, a well-known pilot, crashed into a house at Johnsonville and was totally destroyed by fire. Mr. Taylor was seriously injured and is now in the Bowen Street Private Hospital. Mr. do Tourettes escaped with slight scratches and shock, Messrs. Ernest George Pledger and J. Grammer, who went to the rescue of the airmen', were burned on the hands and head. The airmen were flying a De Havilland Moth, the property of the Wellington Aero Club, of which they are members. They left Levin between a quarter and half-past seven in the morning and were flying against a light southerly on a bright spring morning. The conditions were perfect. The journey was one of a little over sixty miles. Power Pole Struck . Everything went well until just after eight o'clock when they reached Johnsonville, where, for some reason as yet unknown, the aeroplane flew very low. It circled twice in the locality of the west side of the station, gradually getting lower. The right wing struck the top of a power line pole in Ballance Street. The machine then apparently became entangled in the power and telephone lines, swung sharply to the right, and crashed into the residence of Mr. V. A- Mills. The nose of the aeroplane smashed right through an office which had been built on the front of the verandah. In a few seconds the machine and the front of the house were blazing furiously. Tangled Mass of Wreckage Mr. de Tourettes succeeded in freeing himself almost immediately, and was endeavouring to release Mr. Taylor, who was strapped in the front seat, when Messrs. Pledger and Grammer arrived on the scene. With their assistance Mr. Taylor was rescued from the cockpit, which was like a furnace. He was badly burned on the head, hands, body and legs. The Johnsonville Fire Brigade attended and in a few minutes extinguished the flames. All the fuselage, wings, and body of the aeroplane were destroyed, the engine was wrecked, and all that remained of the machine was a tangled mass of metal and wires. The office and a portion of the roof of the house were destroyed by the fire, the rest of the premises and the contents being damaged by heat and water. "Like an Earthquake" The house into which the machine crashed is the property of Mr. Mills, and staying with him were his parents, his brother, and his aunt. Mr. Mills said that they had risen about seven o'clock and were going in to breakfast.. His mother, who is nearly ninety years of age, suddenly came into the room in a state ot alarm and was saying something about an aeroplane being in trouble when there was a crash. "It shook the house so much I thought it. was an earthquake," said Mr. Mills "I caught my mother and then went to the front of the house. The aeroplane had broken through the office and had displaced a double wall between the office and a bedroom occupied by my parents. The aeroplane and the office were all ablaze, but the brigade soon put it out." " A Dreadful Sight " Mr. R. Turner, who lives next door, turned his garden hose on the firo until the arrival of the brigade. "I had never seen an aeroplane so low down," said Mrs. Turner who, with her two daughters, was at the back of the house. "It circled round twice and then came from a westerly direction over the road. It only just cleared the roofs of some of the houses and struck the top of a power line polo just outside. A piece of the wing fell on to our verandah. The aeroplane seemed to get entangled in the wires and the next fhing it smashed into our neighbours' house. It was a dreadful sight, for it burst into flames immediately." Probable Engine Trouble Both airmen were removed to Dr. R. F. Aitken's surgery and Mr. Taylor, who was in a serious condition, was taken to the private hospital accompanied by Dr. Aitken in the Wellington free ambulance. Messrs. Pledger and Grammer also had their injuries attended to later in the morning. It will be some time before Mr. Pledger's hands recover sufficiently for him to return to his work. Piecing together the statements of many eye-witnesses it appears that engine trouble developed as the machine was passing over Johnsonville, and the airmon sought to effect a landing. At first the Recreation Ground was aimed at, but by this time the machine was so low that there would have been grave risk of running into one of the high trees in front of the reserve. Children Avoided The machine then c:rclcd to find another suitable spot and turned toward the children's playground at the school opposite the end of Ballance Street. A large number of children had assembled in the playground and it is , conjectured that the pilot therefore tried to effect a landing in an empty section in Ballance Street or in the street itself, rather than risk injury to the children. But for the unlucky accident of striking the power pole the machine, it is believed, would have landed without much damage.