MOTH WRECKED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20441, 11 June 1936, Page 5

MOTH WRECKED

UCCUPANTS UNINNJUREP By Telegraph—Press Association BLENHEIM, June 10. The Dominion’s first Aero Club machine, the Moth ZK-AAA, belonging to the Marlborough Aero Club, was wrecked this morning as a result of a forced landing in the front garden of a house near the mui.' ip. ’ acroThe accident occurred in the course ol a training flight. The pllotinstructor, Squadron-Leader N. E. Chandler, was accompanied by a pupil, Pilot A. Griffin, of Nelson, but both er rped injury. ET.ortly after taking off, SquadronLeader Chandler discovered that he rudder control was inoperative and elected to effect a quick Ian'”"" in a nearby paddock. The trees in the vicinity necessitated a -’’Arp descent. The machine struck a wire fence. Eye-witnesses stated that the plane bounced into the air almost in front of the house of Mr F. B. Porter, and caught a service electric line, which it brought down, ripping a large board off the house. Miraculously the live wires did not ignite the plane, which crashed in an Inverted position a few feet from a ccttage. T- ■ occupants struggled from the wreckage without even a scratch. The plane broke its back at the cockpits, while the wing was spreadc ’led. The damaged machine I—3 an interesting history, as it was a gift from Baron Wakefield to New Zealand. In 1929 it was allotted by the Government to the Marlborough Club. Subsequently Squadron-Leaded Chandler effected a forced landing in it in the sea at Ship’s Cove, Charlotte Sound. The plane had been rebuilt sev- al times after smashes and little of the original machine remains . cept the identification letters, which were the first issued under the present system.