KILLED IN CRASH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19890, 18 March 1939, Page 5

KILLED IN CRASH

MONOPLANE PASSENGER INJURIES TO PILOT BARRIER ISLAND TRAGEDY £IBSO MACHINE WRECKED (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, .this day. A Miles Majister low-wing monoplane belonging to the Auckland Aero Club crashed into tussocky marshland about 200yds from the aerodrome boundary on Great Barrier Island yesterday afternoon, killing a passenger and seriously injuring the pilot. The machine, which was acquired by the club about a year ago at a cost of £IBSO, was completely wrecked. The occupants were: — Killed W. 11. Claris, aged about 32 years, single, believed to have relatives in Wellington. Tie was the Public Works engineer in charge of the aerodrome on Great Barrier Island. Injured E. M. Walker, of Auckland, double fracture of the right leg and injuries to the face. He is in the Auckland Hospital. There arc only fragmentary details about how the accident happened, and until Mr. Walker has recovered -sufficiently to give a coherent account, the full story will not be known. According to information furnished by onlookers some distance away, there was engine trouble and the monoplane rapidly lost height. Before the pilot could recover control, it struck the ground. Mr. Claris was shockingly injured and his death must have been instantaneous. Arrival of Rescuers When the first of the rescuers arrived they found Mr. Walker sitting among the twisted wreckage of the machine. He obviously was seriously injured and in great pain, so the rescuers forbore moving him and did all they could to make him comfortable in spite of the lack of adequate first-aid equipment on the island. The nearest telephone was some distance from the aerodrome and one of the workmen had to run across rough country to reach it quickly. The accident happened at about 1.50 p.m. Mr. Walker set off from tne Mangere aerodrome at 9.45 a.m., called at Tauranga,, andi on the way back to Auckland decided to visit the Great Barrier. He picked up Mr. Claris, apparently to take him for the trip, but whether the crash occurred shortly after the machine took off or on the return'journey is uncertain, since Mr. Walker was too badly hurt afterward to make any statement. Observers said that the flying conditions were good. Telephone communication was established with the mainland. The Beechcraft flying ambulance was being overhauled and! could not be placed in commission before Sunday. A message was sent to Commodore Rivett Carnac, commanding the New Zealand Squadron. He gave permission for Lieut. Nicholl, of H.M.S. Leander, to fly a supeiimarine Walrus Amphibian across from Hobsonville to the island. In the meantime arrangements were made for the dispatch of a doctor from Che 'hospital. The Amphibian took off from Hobsonvillc at 2.50 p.m. and flew to Mechanics’ Bay, wihere Dr. Gilmour, a member of the hospital medical staff, was waiting. The doctor clambered on board and the machine soared away. All Aid Possible Meanwhile (those residents living near the aerodrome did all they could with the meagre equipment at their disposal to make the injured pilot comfortable. Squadron-Leader D. M. Allan, the chief instructor to the aero club, and Mr. A. Slater, the chief ground engineer, set off in a. Tiger Moth from Mangere ait 3.40 p.m. to give what assistance they could and to find out, if possible, how the tragedy occurred. They returned to Auckland about an hour after the Amphibian arrived at Hobsonville. Lieut. Nicholl made a perfect landing at Hobsonville a.t 6.25 p.m. and gently taxied the machine toward the landing ‘ramp, lowered the retractable wheels and slowly climbed the ramp. A number of air force men lifted Mr. Walker carefully from the body of the fuselage and placed' him in a waiting air force ambulance, which travelled slowly over the bumpy rough stretch of three miles of road between, the Hobsonville base and the Great North road. As soon as the ambulance arrived at the Auckland Hospital, Mr. Walker was taken to the theatre. Until an X-ray examination is made the full extent of his injuries will not be ■known. It is understood that the body of Mr. Claris will be brought to Auckland to-day by aeroplane.