FLYERS INJURED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19623, 5 May 1938, Page 5

FLYERS INJURED

CRASH OF. RELIEF PLANE MISHAP NEAR NAPIER TWO MEN UNCONSCIOUS , FLOOD HINDERS ■ RESCUE (Special to the Herald.) . . NAPIER, this day. Two occupants of a new Tiger Moth aeroplane from the Hawke's Bay and East Coast Aero Club were injured in a crash in the Pakuratahi Valley, about 14 miles north of Napier, while they were engaged on a relief flight delivering food supplies- to isolated farms yesterday afternoon. The two injured men are the pilot, A. W. Britton, of Hastings, known to have suffered facial injuries, and the observer, S. J. Murphy, of Waipukurau, believed to have suffered internal injuries.

Both men are between 25 and 30 years of age.

The.exact extent and nature of the men's injuries could not be ascertained last night, because of the impassability of the means of access to the scene of the crash. The floods have swollen the Esk River, which could not be crossed last night. A youth who witnessed the accident said that the occupant of the rear seat in the machine, the pilot, had received cuts about the head, apparently from his goggles, and that the other man apparently had internal injuries. Both were unconscious when removed from the wrecked aeroplane.

The police were unable to get to the scene of the accident. As darkness had fallen by the time they could set out, they found it impossible to cross the swollen river. Experienced Pilots

A doctor, four St. John Ambulance men, and three policemen set out for Pakuratahi at daybreak this morning.

Both men are experienced pilots.

Mr. Britton is the holder of a B license, and has 275 flying hours to his credit. He is recognised to be a dependable and skilful pilot. Mr. Murphy, though he was observer on this occasion, has had 15 hours of experience of solo flying. He is the holder of an A license. It was Mr. Murphy's first day on relief flying work, though Mr. Britton has already spent many hours every day since the work started last week in dropping supplies of food in various isolated areas between the Esk and Mohaka Rivers. He had the highest number of hours of any of the pilots engaged in this work, Flying conditions yesterday were bad, the only planes leaving the Hastings aerodrome being those which went out on urgent cases.

Mr. A. Pritchard, of the Public Works Department, who is also engaged in flood-relief work, undertook an urgent trip at about the same time as the injured men to Arapawanui to take brandy and blankets to a pensioner reported to be dangerously ill. He made the trip successfully. . ' Eye-witness of Crash First news of the crash reached Napier late yesterday afternoon, when Charles Carter, aged 16, arrived from Pakuratahi, at the Bay View Hotel, for medical assistance for the two men. He travelled on horseback as far as the Esk River, which he crossed in a boat with the assistance of some county council men late in the afternoon.

Carter was an eye-witness to the crash, and of the subsequent events, and he described what he saw in an interview at Bay View last night. "The plane had flown up and down the valley close to the ground several times, dropping bread and other food to various farms," he said, "and was turning back towards the sea when a gust of wind appeared to lift the nose of the machine. The plane rose, then plunged down to the ground. Just before it struck it appeared to flatten out."

Damage to Machine

It crashed just in front of Mr. R. Sutton's house, which is situated right at the head of the valley under the cliffs. The propeller and the undercarriage were smashed and the bottom wings were broken. Mr. Sutton, helped by two youths, W. Bellamy and N. Sutton, extricated the two men from the wrecked plane, and they were taken Into Mr. Sutton's house. Carter said that the man in the front (Mr. Murphy) was jammed fast, and he said there had been some difficulty in lifting him out. Carter said he thought that the man in the front was the worst injured of the pair.

Mr. Sutton's house is four miles from the main Napier-Wairoa road, and it is about five miles from the mouth of the valley to Bay View.