PLANE CRASH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24296, 13 May 1940, Page 8

PLANE CRASH

PROPELLER FALLS OFF PILOT’S SERIOUS INJURY MACHINE A TOTAL LOSS (Per United Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, May 11. When the propeller fell off in midair. a Royal (New Zealand) Air Force Tiger Moth from the No. 2 Elementary Training School at Bell Block crashed into a gully on a farm on the outskirts of New Plymouth yesterday afternoon, and Leading-aircraftsman Dean F. Bullen. aged 23 years, the sole occupant, had his spine fractured His condition is not critical. Spectators saw the plane bank and turn several times. The engine seemed to function properly, and the pilot apparently had control of the flight. After the last turn, at a height of 700 or 800 ft. the machine went into a dive Within about 200 ft of the ground the Moth flattened out and the engine began to splutter before stopping. The machine, which had been flying for only 10 days landed at an angle on the hillside. The engine dug a short shallow trench, and was forced back partly into the observer’s cockpit by the impact. The engine was damaged and all four wings were badly broken, and it is considered that the aeroplane can be written off as a loss Parts of the propeller landed threequarters of a mile from the crash. Though the land wheels were broken from the machine when it touched ground, the pilot, according to observers. made a splendid landing on an even keel after his final dive. The pilot. was conscious and able to talk when found. He said something about a “ black-out.” He explained that in the middle of a slow roll the propeller fell off. and he made the best landing he could on one wing. An Air Force inquiry into the accident will be held.