PILOT'S PLUCK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22504, 22 August 1936, Page 14 (Supplement)

PILOT'S PLUCK

AEROPLANE ON FIRE RISK TO SAVE CHILDREN With great courage and -wonderful presence of mind a Royal Air Force pilot took the risk of meeting with a terrible death rather than jump to safety and allow his blazing aeroplane to crash into a school playground full of merry children. The pilot, Sorgeant H. E. Davis, aged 28, of North "Weald R.A.F. Aerodrome, was flying over the village of Snodland, between Maidstone and Chatham, when his machine was seen to be enveloped in smoke and flames.

Had ho immediately jumped with his parachute the aeroplane would probably have landed among hundreds of children who wero at the moment pouring into

the school playground. In spito of his terrible danger, however, tho pilot stuck to his controls until ho was certain tho aoroplane would not fall on tho village. He then jumped and landed safely iu a potato field, while the blazing machino crashed into a marsh near tho River Medway. Iho aeroplane exploded as it plunged deep in the earth, and in a few minutes was a charred mass of twisted wreckage. Sergeant Davis, who lives at Coopersale, Epping, Essex, was badly burned about the head and face and was rushed immediately to Rochester Hospital. When asked about the occurrence, Sergeant Davis modestly remarked, " I hung on as long as possible so that tho machine \vns clear of the school and houses." Several eye-witnesses spoko of the wonderful pluck and presence of mind of tho sergeant. Mr. R. W. Pike, of Snodland, related how ho saw the aeroplane emerge from the clouds in a mass of flames. " I saw tho pilot leap out and tho parachute open," remarked Mr. Pike. " He glided safely to earth within a few feet of where I was working in my garden." Mr. T. J. Ashby, a Southern Railway ganger, who saw tho aoroplane (lying overhead with flames bursting from its undercarriage, was working near the spot where the machino landed. " 1 dashed toward it," related Mr. Ashby, " and as it touched the ground there was an explosion. It was impossible for mo to approach as tho heat was so terrific. The spot where it fell was marshy land and tho engine was buried about eight feet," added Mr. Ashby.