CRASH FROM THE AIR

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1930, Page 14

CRASH FROM THE AIR

THREE PERSONS KILLED;

■SURVIVORS’ LEGS BROKEN.

. Three persons were killed—a passenger and two of the. company’s staffand two passengers and the pilot in; jured, when • the Imperial Airways airliner City of: Washington, on its way from Paris to Croydon- with, the Indian air mail, crashed on October. 30. at Neufchatel, 'Northern France, between Le Touqiiet and, Boulogne.. \ . Those ..were.-,Mr. James Street, aged 42, a -passenger,American, secretary of the G. W. Carnrick Cpinpany, of Newark,; New Jersey; Mr. A. C. James, aged 28, -. Imperial - Airways ground engineer.and; Mr. ,F. ‘H. j-Mason,. aged 29, engineer of‘ the aeroplane. Those injured--: were Mr. F. B.', Tomkins, of . Chelford,- Cheshire, both, of - whose legs were -broken and one amputated; Mr./H.- BolsQver, - of. Stretford, k Manchester, .whose’.;legs were crushed; and Mr.' J. .J./Flynn, -Of- Croydon, the pilot, who-sustainedfa fractured leg and arm and head 'injuries. - . : - The first news of the crash' came dramatically to the villagers of Neufchatel. There- was ■ a thick - mist, and nothing had been seen of the machine, when suddenly a man, bleeding from many cuts; was” seen painfully dragging himself across the fields.. It proved to be Mr. Tomkins,-who,, in. spite of broken legs, had'crawled nearly a nple to fetch help for his injured fellow-passengers. .. Mr. Tomkins fainted as soon as he had gasped out in broken French the information that the- aeroplane had crashed. Meanwhile, men returning to work across the fields came , upon the damaged machine, and pulled the other five ..occupants from the debris, where they were in danger of the petrol-catch-ing fire.'.,. / ; Mr. Street died in the'motor-car in which some of the injured were taken to Boulogne, and .Mr. Mason died in a garage at Neufchatel, to which he had been carried. ■" Mr. Tomkins is the hero of the crash. “He showed coolness and courage of fhe highest order. He.is the bravest man 1 have ever seen,” Dr. Batman, who dressed his terrible injuries, stated.^Dr./Batman .was’astonished when he/saw Mr. Tomkins’ injuries and.' learned that he had torn through the fabric of the. 'aeroplane, crawled but of the debris, and made his way on his hands for nearly a mile over ploughed fields and through hedges. until he .reache<| the main road rear Neufchatel and was 'picked up by villagers. • ’ ■ This high opinion of Mr. Tomkina’ conduct was confirmed later by Dr. Hou'zel, who had to amputate his left leg and put in splints the right leg, to reduce the ugly compound fracture, , and bandage half a dozen other injuries. ’ The accident took .place at 12.30, according to a'watch that stopped at that hour, But help did not arrive until 2.15. The injuries to his legs, ope of which was broken at the thigh-in two places, prevented Mr. Tomkins from even going on his knees, and both his hands were also terribly cut. But he got out of the wreckage and first tried to pull, his fellow-passengers from the debris. This task being too heavy for him lie began to crawl across the fields toward a few houses which he could see in the distance. It. took him two hours to . cover less than a mile, and he must have fainted several times on the way. A farm, servant was the first to see Mr. Tomkins crawling through the field and roll over on the road apparently dead. He called a friend and they carried the injured man to the village. The doctors stated that Mr. Tomkins had certainly sacrificed his leg in his gallant attempt to bring help. to his

comrades: Had lie stayed in the field near the aeroplane and waited for help toicome there would probably have, been no need to-amputate.. . 1 , The-conditio/.-of all the injured was aggravated by’ the fact that they lay in the field for some time after the crash;- , The passengers had reached Paris - from India, hav-ihg travelled from Marseilles’, and were flying to London. Eight. hundred pounds of Indian mail tya’s-bn 1 board. •' '/ ■• “I am' an air pilot,” said Mr. Torn-, kins, “but I do not kn'ow what happened. We- must have hit a hill. The place was very deserted. It'happei.-d so' quickly: I wandered about' for nearly two Hours before finding help.- I crawled away, as I was the only one able to inbve;” The injured were taken to the private clinic of Dr. Ahouzen’ at Boulogne. /.? / ..’ - ///-/ ' / Apparently al! went well until the aeroplane was hearing tile French coast, when one of the twin - engines : went'out of action. With only one engine running -the’pilot.'struggled!on in' the hope' of finding a suitable spot to- land. Unfortunately he fog and crashed on a hillside. •;/’■.

With the exception 'of '■ the fuselage i;he liner was completely-destroyed, but fortunatelv it did not catch 1 fire. ■ ■

The : father‘of Sir. James,- of Bristol, ‘pub of the dead,’stated'that liio son was coming home" from Egypt, especially to marry* ;his '■ fiancee; who '? ■ belongs ’to Brist’dl. ' She -went •to London to meet him. 'He ‘ went to Egypt a year ago, ■where he! was in .the-servicb of Triipeirial Airways, and was returning in the hope of obtaining a/ better post, so that he could-settle oown, /.'. •

Mr. - Tomkins, formerly an officer in the Air Force, competed in the 'last King’s Cup air race, but had to abandon the flight at Newcastle’owing to engine trouble. '