NEW ZEALANDER’S ESCAPE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23529, 18 June 1938, Page 3

NEW ZEALANDER’S ESCAPE

FIRE IN, BOMBER CAUSE REMAINS A MYSTERY (From Our Own Correspondent! (By Air Mail) LONDON, May ,31. The cause of the fire which broke out in the Air Ministry’,s new Wellesley long-range bomber, from which Flight-lieutenant IA. C. Washer, formerly of New Plymouth, escaped by using a parachute, remains a mystery. No explanation was forthcoming when. an inquest was held on the death of Peter Warren, the test observer, who accompanied the New Zealander on the flight and was killed. The machine was the second longrange bomber, intended for an attempt on the world’s long-distance record, to meet with disaster. The first disappeared off the north coast of Scotland in February, and nothing was heard or seen of it until a wheel was found on the Norwegian coast. Flight-lieutenant Washer told the coroner that he was about to return to the aerodrome when he smelt something burning., “Then,” he continued, “I heard my observer give a warning shouts a sort of panic signal, which indicated to me that something was radically wrong. At the same time smoke came into my front cockpit. I shouted back to him to jump out. “I looked out and saw the port main wing on fire. Black smoke and heat were coming from behind. I prepared to leave by jumping over the side. I thought the observer had either gone or was afraid to jump, so I called out, ‘Hurry up. Jump. Do not be afraid. This is the way to get out.’ I could not see him. Then I jumped.” Captain Wilkins, of the Accident* Investigation Department of the Air Ministry; said he was satisfied the engine had been switched off. A ground engineer employed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company said that Warren sat in a separate compartment behind the pilot. Warren wore his parachute harness and had a parachute handy for his own use. He was making observations on engine temperatures and needed to be free to move about his. cabin. Dr D. C. Browse said he thought Warren was probably not dead before the actual crash. It was possible he might have been stupefied by fumes. , The coroner said that there was some doubt whether the fumes made Warren incapable of jumping from the ’plane, or whether he 1 was too afraid to do so. . . The verdict was accidental death.”