CRASH IN ITALY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21940, 25 October 1934, Page 13

CRASH IN ITALY

FURTHER PARTICULARS EYE-WITNESSES' REPORT VICTIMS KILLED INSTANTLY VILLAGERS HONOUR DEAD By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, Oct. 23 A message from Palazzo San Gervasio, Italy, states that it is clear that Flying-Officer H. D. Oilman, of Auckland, and Mr. J. K. C. Baines were killed instantly before their machine - caught fire. One of the victims suffered head injuries and the other a fractured spine. The watchman in charge of the field, seeing the machine making for the landing ground, signalled indications as to the best method of landing. A wind was blowing hard from the north-east and it was raining. When the aeroplane was 60 yards from the ground the pilot looked out to observe the weather vane. The machine was swept sideways when 90 yards off the ground, then side-slipped and crashed. The watchman and others rushed to the spot, but the ground was so swampy that they sank up to their knees. It was impossible to move the bodies until 4 p.m., though the crash had occurred at 8 a.m. Thousands of villagers assembled at the local church to-day to pay their last respects to the dead airmen. Masses of flowers from the village gardens and wild flowers picked by children were placed on the coffins, over which an Italian flac was flown. The King and Queen, through the New Zealand High Commisiioner, Sir James Parr, have condoled with the relatives of Messrs. Gilman and Baines. ATTEMPT ON RECORD COLONEL FITZMAURIGE MAY START TO-MORROW London;, Oct. 23 Colonel J. C. Fitzmaurice, the Irish entrant, who withdrew from the Centenary air race because of the restriction on his petrol load, will carry out tests of his Bellanca aeroplane at Portsmouth to-morrow. Croydon is considered unsuitable by officials for the tests. / If the results are satisfactory Colonel Fitzmaurice, with a full load, is expected to leave on Friday to attempt to break the' record of Messrs. Scott and Black. •" A message from Berlin states that the Nazi newspaper Angriff has a streamer heading, Sin. high: "Why Colonel Fitzmaurice Was Scratched," and publishes a statement from a German eye-witness at Mildenhall. This says: "No effort was spared, to ensure that an English aeroplane and an English flier should win.. No objec- , tions were raised until Colonel Fitzmaurice's trial flight, when, he was informed on the eve of the race that he would not be allowed to start unless his machine was tested in landing fully loaded." Angriff alleges that the committee 3 decision was purposely delayed until it was too dark to carry -out a test before the start of the race. - - • The article concludes: "This is how the most dangerous opponent was eliminated by sport-loving England, which protested when the Australians won the cricket tests and the Americans won the yacht race." ' CREW OF GIANT BOEING COLONEL TURNER'S RECORD THREE EXPERIENCED PILOTS One of the most picturesque figures in American aviation is Colonel Roscoe Turner, first pilot of the big Boeing Transport monoplane entered for the speed section of the Centenary race. He is 39 years of age and is the holder of the world's speed record for landmachines, having been timed at 308 miles an hour this year in a WeddellWilliams machine. Already this year Colonel Turner has made two outstanding long-distance flights. He first broke the New YorkLos Angeles record at an average of 219 miles an hour, and later captured the across-America record, averaging 256 miles an hour. On this flight he also created a world's record for air speed over long distances. He has been engaged in every phase of flying, from "barnstorming" to test piloting, and has the record of never having crashed a machine. He holds many trophies for outstanding feats in aviation. The co-pilot' is Mr. Clyde Pangborn, another of the world's great long-dis-tance fliers. He flew a single-engined machine across the Pacific from Japan to Vancouver in 1931, and had to drop the under-carriage after taking off, to enable the heavily-laden machine to climb. He accomplished the flight successfully, however, and landed by "pancaking." Earlier the same year, in company with ]\lr. H. Herndon, Sir. Pangborn attempted to break the round-the-world record. They crossed the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Wales, and continued to Moscow, but were forced down in Siberia, and had to abandon their flight. Mr. Pangborn was originally entered as the pilot of a Granville » monoplane, but joined forces with Colonel Turner. His Granville was taken over by Miss J. Cochran, and was withdrawn from the race *at Bucharest with a damaged under-car-riage. The third member of the Boeing's crew is Miss Ruth Rowland Nichols, a 33-year-old New York woman, who first entered a Lockheed Altair, similar to Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's craft, in the Centenary race. She has been flying for 12 years, and in America in 1931 she established a women's altitudo record of 27,418 ft., a.nd the following month made a new record for women by travelling at 210 miles an hour. Her bdst time from New York to Los Angeles is 13 hours 21 minutes, also a record for women. The Boeing machine is a large cabin monoplane, driven by two Pratt and Whitney "Wasp" motors. It is typical of recent American design.