HURT IN CRASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23219, 13 December 1938, Page 13

HURT IN CRASH

AMSTERDAM ACCIDENT. ■■ i AUCKLAND DOCTOR ii ■ ii J : REMARKABLE ESCAPE THE LOSS or SIX LIVES! t?ROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] LONDON. Nov. 24 With a vivid red scar showing on tho top of his head, Dr. W. A. Fairclough, of Auckland, flew back to London from Amsterdam yesterday, tb the surprise and infinite pleasure of his friends. Dr. Fairclough was one of the 12 passengers who were injured when a Dutch aeroplane flying from Berlin to London crashed outside Amsterdam, killing six. After a few days in the Queen Wilhelmina Hospital his request that he should be allowed to continue his journey to London was granted by the medical superintendent. A nurse accompanied him and Croydon was reached on November 20. • It will be recalled that Dr. Fairclough, who had been in Vienna and Cologne, was travelling by air to London, via Berlin and Amsterdam. The air liner crashed in misty weather early on the evening of November 14, just a few miles outside the aerodrome at Amsterdam. The pilot had received a wireless message to keep on . circling as the landing ground was not immediately clear. But the machine Crashed; the pilot and his assistant those killed. First to Recover Consciousness Recalling the accident, Dr. Fairclough said: "I really do not recollect much about the crash itself, I remember looking out of the window and thinking that we seemed to be flying perilously close to the ground at what I thought was a very high speed. Then I heard a jagged, tearing sound. "The next thing I remember was crawling on my hands and knees. I was the first person to recover consciousness and I saw distressing sights. I must have been about 100 yards away from the machine and, thinking about it afterward, I realise that I must have been unconscious for some time, because the blood on my coat had dried. "It was some time before help arrived, and I recall trying to assist a Canadian woman ajray from the wreck because I thought it might go up in flames. Afterwards I remembered seeing a wing and thei engines some distance away from the machine, so really I need not have been worried aboufr this. ' , "I walked about for some time and I can remember seeing a woman's body taken out of a ditch, and looking at the pilot's body, terribly mutilated. They told me I was flung clear through the top of the machine.^ Injury Affects Bight Lung "Then I think I must have fainted again, because I could remember no more until I woke up in hospital. The next day I came out in a mass of bruises from top to toe. It was found that one of my ribs was broken. They took an X-ray—and gava a lecture to students at the same time. The damago to the rib is not serious in itself, but the phrenic nerve is injured, and this interferes with the breathing of the right lung. "They were very good to us in hos- | pital and did everything they could. I lost none of my possessions. Everything was collected from the, wreck and from the ground round the machine.i Placed on trays, the various articles were brought round for us to pick out our belongings. There were my foun-tain-pen, studs, .umbrella and camera unharmed, with films which I shall have developed. I had taken some sniips at Cologne during an exciting period. Not Able to Fly to Australia "I shall be staying in London for a time. I had booked to return by Imperial Airways to Australia—l came Home that way—but until my injury is healed 1 shall not be able to breathe properly at any altitude, so I ishall have to give up that idea." It is probable that Dr. Fairclough will go into a nursing home for a while, for, although he Bays he is not ill, he is still feeling weak and unable to do many little things for himself. From a professional point of view, Dr. Fairclough considers that the finest clinics which he visited were at Vienna and Utrecht. With the latter centre he was particularly pleased. Machine Strikes Three Ditches The chief pilot of the machine, which was named the Ijsvogel, was Captain J. J. E. Duimelaar; the second pilot was Captain W. van Gemerenf tho wireless operator, C. J. W. Surber; the mechanic, W. J. van Hunt. Two of -those killed were German women. Rescuers searched for hours with torches before finding the body of tho chief pilot lying in a ditch under tho wreckage. The co-pilot had been seconded from the fcrmy for civil flying training. When the aeroplane struck the ground part of the left wing and one of the two motors were wrenched oif and thrown to the side. The machine then taxied on one wheel for about' 400 yards and struck a ditch, where the second wing and the other motor were wrenched off. The cockpit and the greater part of the cabin were damaged at this pointy when it is believed that most of the people were killed.

The machine then pushed forward until it struck a third ditch. Dead and wounded were thrown all over the field. Fire brigade, ambulances, police and soldiers from a near by military aerodrome carried out the rescue work by torchlight. In the tail of the aeroplane they discovered two passengers who had' forced their way through the woodwork of the cabin, only to be trapped in the rear of the machine. .... In the list of injured, in addition to Dr. Fairclough, appeared the names of Miss Clovey, of New Zealand, with broken ribs, and Mrs. Claymann, also of Nerz Zealand, suffering from a fractured spine and hip. But no record can be found in London of these ladies.