FATAL CRASH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24606, 14 May 1941, Page 12

FATAL CRASH

DEATH OF PUPIL PILOT FINDING AT INQUEST (P.A.) AUCKLAND. May 13. An inquest into the death of Leading Aircraftman Edwin Chaytor Moore, of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, when a Tiger Moth from the Whenuapai air base crashed and caught fire at Reweti. near Helensville, was held before the city coroner. Mr F. K. Hunt. S.M., to-day. Leading Aircraftman Moore, aged 23. had been in the Air Force since January. L. D. Hoist, a Reweti farmer, said he saw two machines flying fairly high towards Helensville. One turned to the right and circled to about 200 feet from the ground. Although it was flying slowly, the pilot appeared to have control When flying into the wind it suddenly slipped to the . left ana crashed, the left wing tip and engine appearing to strike the ground at the same time. Within a few seconds oi the crash the aeroplane was on fire. Witness arrived about five minutes later, and found a number of territorial soldiers there. The aeroplane had been burned out, and the body of the pilot, severely burned, was at the side of the machine, having been thrown out bv the impact.

Pilot Officer Renolds. an instructor at Whenuapai. said he had authorised the deceased to make a solo training flight of 45 minutes. The machine was in good serviceable condition, and witness had himself flown it for two hours the same morning. The deceased was a pilot slightly below the average in abilitv. but was fully capable of solo flyimr.

Squadron Leader Bolt, senior engineer officer at the Hobsonville air base, said he examined the machine after the crash and found the actual air frame ' and control intact with nothing wrong. The engine had been too badly burned to enable him to determine if there had been any trouble. It was generally considered that the pilot had lost control of the machine near the ground. "There is no one alive to tell us what actually happened," said Mr Hunt, who returned a finding that the cause of death was the result of a machine flown by the deceased becoming out of control and accidentally crashing.