HEAVY LOSS IN AEROPLANES

Southland Times, Issue 23817, 15 May 1939, Page 7

HEAVY LOSS IN AEROPLANES

ACCIDENTS TO AIR FORCE MACHINES FIVE DAMAGED IN ONE WEEK (United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, May 13. Five Air Force machines have been damaged, two becoming total wrecks, this week. The tragic crash at Wigram on Thursday night as the result of which three were killed is the only case in which there has been loss of life, but the combined damage must amount to thousands of pounds. In addition to the Blackburn Baffin machine which made a forced landing at Pigeon Bay on Wednesday and has, it is understood, been written off as a total loss, there have been three other mishaps. When landing yesterday in a cross wind a machine came to grief and the tip of the wing hit the ground with such force that the wing was wrenched practically off and the fabric strained and damaged. On another day a machine, understood to be an Avro, hit some power lines on the boundary of the Wigram aerodrome but by a fortunate chance was not damaged and was able to land, although it brought with it trailing lengths of line. Superficial damage was done to the undercarriage but repairs will not be costly. The remaining accident occurred when an aeroplane was taking off on a routine flight and it struck a wire fence, broke the tips of the propeller and ripped to shreds the tyre of one wheel. Skilful piloting of the machine enabled it to land on one wheel and repairs are being effected. The intense heat generated in the fire which followed immediately in the wake of the crash of the Vickers-Vildebeest machine on Thursday night reduced it to a mass of molten metal. It is presumed that the petrol tanks were punctured when the aeroplane hit the tree and that petrol was sprayed in all directions so that once it ignited it burned with the fury of a furnace. The rescue of the men then still alive was effected by one of the permanent staff in an asbestos suit, one of the ambulance and the fire corps being ready for an emergency such as this.