ANOTHER DISASTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17230, 9 April 1930, Page 7

ANOTHER DISASTER

GERMAN PLANE CRASHES TWO OCCUPANTS KILLED (British Oflicial Wireless.) Roc. 10 a.m. RUGBY, April S. A German air liner carrying mail from Croydon to (lormnny crashed at Lympslield, Surrey, at 4 o'clock this morning, and the pilot and mechanic, whose names are given as llerren Wessel and Connert, and who were the only occupants of the machine, were killed. The liner apparently burst into flames in the air, as burnt wreckage was strewn over a considerable area. The pilot 's body had severe burns, but the mechanic is assumed to have met his death by jumping from the flaming machine, which was completely destroyed. An Air .Ministry official reached the scene ;it all early hour, but the cause of the accident is as >'it not known. It is ibelieved that the plane which crashed at Caterham Valley was returning to Croydon owing to her wireless having failed, and in the darkness of the early morning 'was seeking a landing place, firing many Verey lights. It crashed in a field used for joy-Hying during week-ends. The machine caught lire and an explosion followed, 'blowing it to so many pieces that it was scattered over hundreds of yards, and it is doubtful if the cause of the disaster will be discovered. The pilot and wireless operator, aged 21, were both terribly injured. The valley has a bad name and is avoided by English pilots in bad weather. Three disasters have occurred therein, with serious loss of life. Pilots descending to avoid the mists 'become trapped among the hills and fly blindly into the slopes.