AIR TAXI CRASH

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1930, Page 9

AIR TAXI CRASH

SIX KILLED AT GRAVESEND PROMINENT SOCIETY PEOPLE PLANE SEEMED TO* EXPLODE CAUSE REMAINS MYSTERY By Telegraph— Press Asz>n.—Copyright. London, July 21. A British air taxi from Le Touquet crashed near Gravesend. Four men and two women were killed. The passengers, prominent members of society, all died instantly. Villagers at Meopham, near Gravesend, saw the big aeroplane wobbling badly as it approached from the Channel in pouring rain. An explosion occurred and pieces of wreckage came floating down. The machine crashed into an orchard. The victims were the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, Sir .Edward Ward, Viscountess Ednam, Mrs. Henrik Loeffler, Pilot-Colonel G. Henderson and second pilot C. Shearing. The machine was an all-metal Junker belonging to Colonel Henderson, of the Flying Bureau. It had been to the Walcot Air Lines in order to cope with tlie pressure on'the service. Five bodies, terribly mutilated, were found in the orchard. Colonel Henderson lay nearby, strapped in the pilot’s seat, but he expired as rescuers arrived. The main part of the fuselage, with one wing attached, fell into the garden of a bungalow. The engine crashed on the drive of an adjoining house and the wing fluttered down two miles away. Other parts were widely scattered. The petrol tanks were picked up intact, which, with the absence of signs of lire, makes it difficult to account for the reports that an explosion occurred. The orchard presented a ghastly spectacle. Parts of the bodies were strewn in all directions, rendering identification most difficult. Earlier in the day the plane had crossed to Le Touquet and brought one party to Croydon and had then set olf again to fetch Lord Dutferin and some friends. The crash occurred _on the return journey. Flying conditions had been extremely difficult throughout the flay. Lord Dufferin, who was 55 years of age, was the first Speaker of the Senate of Northern Ireland, having held the post since 1921. He had a distinguished army career, as had also Sir Edward Ward, who, during the war, was a captain in the Grenadier Guards. Viscountess Ednam was a sister of the Duke of Sutherland and wife of the heir to Earl Dudley. The Viscountess and Mrs. Loeffler were prominent figures in London social life. . Mrs. Loeffler was well-known in the West End as a hostess. She often entertained the Prince of Wales. She was returning from a party at Le Touquet where she entertained, among others. Colonel Piers Legh, the Prince of Wales' equerry. ■ Lord Londonderry and the Duke . oi Sutherland, brother of Lady Ednam, visited the simple hut serving, as a mortuary near Gravesend and entered simultaneously with the fathers of the two pilots. Police and others continued long after nightfall searching the district. with lanterns for any fragment of debris likely to afford a clue to the cause of the crash. The Prince of Wales has frequently flown for week-ends to Le Touquet, where he was the guest of Mrs. Loeffler. His equerry, Colonel Piers Legh, would have travelled in the plane if there had been room. He crossed the Channel by steamer.