TRAGEDY OF THE AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21411, 8 February 1933, Page 6

TRAGEDY OF THE AIR

NEW ZEALAND PILOT KILLED VIOLENT CRASH FROM LOOP TRAPPED IN BLAZING MACHINE 4 y fITROM OCR OWN correspondent] LONDON, Jan. B Flying-Officer John Laurance Armstrong crashed in an aeroplane near Blackmore, Essex, on January 4, and was trapped in the blazing machine. This ia the second death in the Royal Air Force this year, and an addition to a long list of casualties among New Zealanders serv* ing in the Royal Air Force. Flying-Officer Armstrong was the sou of Lieut.-Colonel J. Armstrong, of Dannevirke. At the time of his death he was with No. 11l (Fighter) Squadron, stationed at Hornchurch. The inquest failed to throw any light on the cause of the accident, and the jury returned a verdict of "death by misadventure." Deceased was flying a Bulldog aircraft. Flight-Lieutenant D. L. Thomson said that Flying-Officer Armstrong and he were testing the new Bristol Bulldog aeroplane. Before Armstrong took charge witness had flown it for half an hour. It was a pleasant machine to fly, and in a perfectly sound condition. Armstrong was an experienced pilot.. Charles Weeden said he saw the machine loop, and as it came out of the clouds three pieces fell from the tail. It then disappeared behind some trees and crashed. Sidney Epps said he saw the machine loop, • and after it had done so it went upside down toward the ground at a terrific rate. As it started to loop he noticed a flash from the centre of the machine, followed by a thick cloud of smoke. .He saw nothing fall from the machine. P. C. Tupman said the machine was embedded in a hole about 4ft. deep, and Armstrong was buried under the wreckage. Part of the wing was found a quarter of a mile away. Miss Marriage, on whose farm the machine fell, said: "I heard the roar of the aeroplane and ran out of the just in time to see a large cloud of dark smoke rising behind the wood. I rode there as fast as I could on a pony, and saw the machine, partly buried in the ground, burnisg fiercely. Water was carried in buckets and thrown on the flames, but it was an hour and a-half before the pilot could be got out.'* Flying-Officer Armstrong was accepted by the Selection Board, Air Ministry, on March 13, 1931. He was confirmed in the rank of pilot officer on. March 13, 1932, and made flying-officer on October 13. He was educated at Christ's College and Canterbury College.