TEST PILOT KILLED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23165, 11 October 1938, Page 8

TEST PILOT KILLED

AEROPLANE CRASHEB TERRIFIC DIVE FROM CLOUDS [from otjb own oorrespondest] LONDON. Sept. 18 Diving 1000 ft. out of the clouds at 400 m.p.h., a new Hawker Hurricane machine crashed in the woods of St. George's Hill, "VKeybridge, ripped off the tops of trees and struck the ground in flames outside two empty houses.

The pilot, Mr. John S. Hindmarsh, one of Britain's best test fliers and husband of Violette Cordery, the woman racing driver, was killed immediately. He was testing the machine for Hawker Aircraft, Limited, at Brooklands Aerodrome, and had been in the air five minutes travelling at high speed through the thick clouds. Hawker officials saw him bank steeply. The aeroplane disappeared for seconds and then hurtled out of the clouds in a power dive straight to earth. The noise of the crash and the explosion which followed were heard all over Weybridge. Police and firemen hurried to the wood, but had to stand helplessly by as the wreckage burned out.

The engine was found buried 6ft. deep in the drive of one of the empty houses, and fuselage debris hung in trees like crows' nests. Police searched for hburs before the pilot's body was located. Officials believe that Hindmarsh fainted after banking* the aeroplane. If so he may have regained consciousness near the ground and tried to open his parachute. The cord had been pulled. Mr. Philip Veale, a pilot in training, of Byfleet, who saw the crash, said:— "No pilot could have pulled himself out of that /dive. Hindmarsh appeared to have the machine all out. It was obviously out of control from the beginning of the dive." In August, last year, Mr. Hindmarsh crashed in Portugal, while trying out one of the three Hawker Fury fighters bought by the Portugal Army. He was unhurt. /