AIR EXPRESS WRECKED

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12022, 27 December 1924, Page 5

AIR EXPRESS WRECKED

PASSENGERS DIE INFLAMES MACHINE IN ASHES TEN MINUTES AFTER CRASH. RESCUERS FATE. Sy Telegraph —Pres* Assn.—Copyright Reuters Telegram. LONDON, December 24. Eight people were killed by the crashing of the air express, from London to Paris, at Croydon to-day. The victims were the pilot and seven passengers. The aeroplane had' just started for Paris at noon when it crashed, about half a mile from; the starting point. It fell, nos© downwards, and front of the engine buried itself in the ground. The petrol tank burst, and the petrol caught fire, and the flame® quicldy spread to the body and wings. INTENSE HEAT. A crowd rushed to the spot to help, but the heat was so intenro that no one was able to approach the aeroplane, which was reduced to ashes within ten minutes. The machine, a j>© Haviland of 450 horsepower, belonged to Imperial Airways, Limited, a combination of British firms formed early in the year to work the air transport services with the continentWhen the fire broke out, all the passengers were probably unconscious, if not dead. The tail of the aeroplane was tilted up so high that all were thrown in a heap with great force. The marks and injuries which! the 'bodies bear cannot be accounted for otherwise. PETROL TANK EXPLODES.

Australian and N.Z Cable Association LONDON, December 24. The midday air express had only just risen from the aerodrome when it seemed to stall, and as it was too slow to recover in time, crashed heavily, nose foremost, on Russell Hill, Purley. Directly it touched the ground the petrol tank appeared to explode, and the flames rose 60 feet high. In a few moments the whole mass of wreckage was ablaze. From the beginning there was no hope for the unfortunate® inside, though a fir© brigade reached the scene within rix minutes. The first rescuers _ were a number of workmen at a neighbouring building, who rushed up with axes. On© man named Pooley, with a scaffoldei’s hammer, tried to split the cabin open in order to get at the passengers; but a strong wind was blowing, and the workmen were driven back. PILOT LYING ON ENGINE. The rescuers saw the pilot lying on I his face with his body stretched across 1 the engine, and tried to get a rope j over his !eg and drag the hody away; l but the heat prevented them, though they tried again and again. The rescuers finally got a rope through the under-carriage. When the crash came the passengers were evidently flung into the fore-part of the cabin with such violence that they were seriously injured, and quently it *s hoped that they were not conscious when the fire broke out.

CHARRED BODIES DROP OUT. When tlie undercarriage was dragged away, ©even bodies were seen huddled together, and as the charred bottom of the cabin fell out, the bodies of two women, four men, and a boy dropped to the ground. Hie clothes were burnt off and the bodies blackened.

One woman appeared to bo just alive, though terribly burnt from the waist upwards; but she soon died. Two of the dead men, named Sproston, were well known in the motor world. Another was a youth of eighteen named Luxemberg, who recently [eft Saint Pauls School, .and was going for a holiday to Paris. Stewart, the pilot, had a fine war record, and won the Military Cross and bar. He had the reputation of being a highly skilled pilot. The machine was tested just before its departure, and seemed to he in perfect condition.