AIR CRASH IN TEXAS

Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1930, Page 3

AIR CRASH IN TEXAS

PILOT ANO WIFE KILLED

FORMER WELLINGTON MAN. TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES. Wellington/ Feb. 2. Some days ago word was received in Wellington of the death on December as the result of an aeroplane crash in Texas, of Mr. Robert Hector Gray, formerly of Wellington, and his wife, an American woman) and three business men. No details were then available, but further information has now been received by his relatives in Wellington. The late Lieutenant Gray, an old boy of, the South Wellington. School, was. a fighting, pilot in the famous No/74 British Fghting Squadron during the war. After a brief stay-in New Zealand after the Armistice he went to America to take up . civil aviation and became assistant manager of the .Texas Air Trails-, port Company, which’ position he held at the time, of his death.

Lieutenant Gray was regarded, by the company and. the people of; Amarillo, the headquarters of the company, as. a thoroughly experienced and careful pilot and the crashing of-his machine was, at th®time of the despatch of the mail for New Zealand, unexplained. . . .. . The machine was a six-seater passenger one, practically new and believed to be in perfect condition. It had gone to a golf course about seven miles from Amarillo and was apparently starting away on the return triy, when it fell into a slow spin at an-elevation of about 200 feet.- Eye-witnesses stated that the pilot succeeded in straightening but Hying speed : was -lost, and the aeroplane fell on to an open space between the fairways of the-golf course. The wings were torn apart from the. fuselage. Help was' immediately .forthcoming, but nothing could be done. ~/.; . A strange aspect of the crash was that although the machine, a monoplane, had been brought out of the spin, it dropped very abruptly. when again seemingly in flying trim. ■ .. 1 The accident was the more tragic as Lieutenant Gray’s, mother, Mrs. Douglas Gray, of Wellington, and hi.s .sister, Miss Phyllis Gray, were on a visit to Texas to see him and Mrs. Gray and their infant son. Mrs. Hector Gray was only 20 years of age and had flown many hours wi th her husband. The baby had. achieved distinction in the United States as being the youngest and most experienced flying passenger, for he had with his mothei and father had about 80 hours flying. At th© time of the tragedy he was being looked after by Mrs. Douglas Gray and will in all probability be brought back by her to New Zealand.