PARACHUTE LEAPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARACHUTE LEAPS

ESCAPES BY DARING AIRMEN Since 1926 over 120 airmen have been saved in Great Britain through making parachute jumps from doomed aeroplanes. The total for all parts 0 the world since the war is estimated at moro than 900. The great value of the lifebelt or the air was illustrated in recent accidents. In one instance Pilot-Officer I G MacKay, stationed at Hornchurch, Essex, went up for a practice flight, together with another machine —both single-seaters—and when several thousand feet high they collided. The machine got out of control ana Mr MacKay was forced to jump, landing safely. People for miles .round saw him leap. The areoplane crashed and was wrecked. The other machine, which was undamaged, was able to make a normal landing. ' In the second case a Vickers torpedo bomber from the Brooklands works ot the company broke up in the air several thousand feet above Wejbridge Station, Surrey. The test pilot,-Captain J. Summers, and his observer, Mr. J.. M. Radchffe, both jumped. Mr. Summers came down among some trees, which tore his parachute. He landed heavily and was taken to hospital, where he was detained, suffering from shock. Mr. Radcliffe was also taken to hospital, but was sent home -after being treated for cuts on the chin.