TERRITORIAL KILLED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23690, 23 December 1938, Page 7

TERRITORIAL KILLED

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN MISHAP VERDICT: “ACCIDENTAL DEATH” 'By Air Mail) (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON. Nov. 24 Members of a London Territorial anti-aircraft unit described at a Hammersmith inquest how a 3.7 in antiaircraft gun went off while it was being cleaned on November 4, killing one of the crew and injuring four others. A verdict of “ accidental death ” was returned on John Ferguson Watkiss, 32, of Rosebury Gardens. West Ealing. The jury handed in a written rider. On reading it Mr Neville Stafford, the coroner, said: “I cannot accept this. It is no part of your concern.” During the hearing two cartridge cases and splinters of a gun-cleaning brush were handed to the jury for examination. Watkiss was one of the detachment of a gun belonging to the 53rd City of London Anti-Aircraft Brigade R.A., which had given a recruiting display at the White City. The gun was then taken to the unit’s headquarters to be cleaned.

(By Air Mail)

A War Office statement explained that to clean a gun of this type it was necessary to put an empty shell case in the breech,- but “by some deplorable mischance a round of blank ammunition was put in instead of an empty case. The men began to clean the gun with a ramrod, and by another mischance somebody pulled the trigger.” The ramrod was blown among the men clustered around the muzzle.

In his summing-up the coroner said it was not known who put the round of blank into the gun. AMMUNITION’S DISPOSAL Captain Alan Villiers, adjutant of the 53rd City of London Anti-Aircraft Brigade, said that detachments for the demonstration were provided by the officer commanding the 159th AntiAircraft Battery on the authority of the officer commanding the 53rd Brigade.

There were two 3.7 guns and eight rounds of blank ammunition provided for the demonstration. When the detachment returned to the drill hall he gave jrders for the guns to be cleaned. Captain Villiers said that he was in the mess when the explosion occurred. Describing the rders regarding the disposal of ammunition when firing had taken place, he said that any rounds, aftpr they had been fired, were put in an* ammunition,box. What were left over were put in a separate box. The routine was for the men to put back their ammunition first and put a base clip on. so that nothing happened if it dropped on the floor. The Coroner: What is the procedure for cleaning the guns?—There is no actual drill. A party of men start cleaning the guns down.. Someone goes and gets the water, and someone does something else. The usual procedure, he went on, was to place an empty cartridge case into the breech of the gun, so that the water could not run out: then to pour hot water down the bore, which was slightly elevated, so that water ran down. A brush with a long handle was then worked up and down to wash the bore out. TRIGGER MECHANISM Captain Villiers stated that the lighting of the yard where the cleaning took place was “ poorish ” There was one electric light. It did not need a strong man to pull the firing mechanism of the gun. he added. It went off quite easily; but there was no question of a hair trigger. Major William Ivory, assistant inspector of guns at Woolwich Arsenal, said he had examined gun Ll 3 and found it to be perfectly serviceable. The breech mechanism, the shell cartridge case, and the trigger were absolutely normal. It would be absolutel- impossible to fire the gun when using the brush and ramming it down hard. There was no chance of the gun firing itself Vvith the safety catch on. The trigger, ht explained, must be pulled. The lever had quite long way to travel before the gun fired. Dr Temple Grey, who performed a post mortem, said that death was duo to a puncture wound of the brain. The skull was split by two splinters of •vood, one 7in long and the other 2in.

Members of the cun detachment gave evidence of the disposal of fired and unfired ammunition after the demonstration.

‘TOUCHED FIRING LEVER’

Gunner John S toggles, of Brookland rise, N.W., said he was helping to pour water into the barrel of the gun when ho heard another gunner, who was elevating the gun from a seat on the side, say that he thought water was leaking into the breech. ‘ I went round to the rear of the gun to see if water was leaking out and to try to find where it was,” he went on “ I felt round the side of the breech and other cavities and the breech mechanism, and in doing so touched the firing lever, and the gun went off.” Gunner Steggles said that the firing lever and the breech lever were quite near each other. He had been in the Territorial Army since February. FROM A LORRY The Coroner tola the jury that no one saw the cartridge case being put into the gun. It was dark, and it might not have been easy to distinguish between a live and a spent cartridge. The only place from where this live cartridge could have come was one of the lorries In one. two live rounds were put in a box; and two spent ones on the floor. That was the usual practice. In the other lorry throe spent rounds were put in a box and one live round on the floor. The only explanation was that a blank cartridge on the floor of the lorry must have been picked up and nut into the gun. “ We do not know who did it.” said vli Stafford “ Does it matter very much if we press it any further or not? It may have been Watkiss or one of the other injured men who are too ill to be present.” He added that a court oi inquiry had been held. The authorities had gone into .the case thoroughly. Any findings would be carried out by them.