PILOT AND TRAINEE KILLED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21850, 31 December 1940, Page 6

PILOT AND TRAINEE KILLED

’Plane Crashes Through House Explosion Follows Impact Disaster Near Ashhurst By Telegraph—Press Association PALMERSTON N., December 30. Two men were killed when an Airspeed Oxford training machine from Ohakea crashed through the middle of a two-storey wooden house on the Siberia property of Mr C. M. Kebbell, near Ashhurst, at the entrance to the Manawatu Gorge this morning. The men were: Sergeant R. Brooke-Taylor, aged 25, instructor, formerly of Christchurch. His wife is living at 290, Madras Street, Chrischurch. Leading-Aircraftsman T. A. H. Alexander, a trainee nearing the close of his period at Ohakea. He came from Kohukohu, North Auckland, and was aged 26. Both men were killed instantly, the machine hitting the house square on at the eaves and passing right through it. The aeroplane broke up to a remarkable degree. One engine and the tangled wreckage of the cockpit were found 100 yards from the dwelling. The other engine was about 50 yards further on, in a creek at the bottom of a gully. The bodies of both men were still strapped in ther seats near the wrecked cockpit. About 10 minutes before the aeroplane crashed, the four children of Mr and Mrs Kebbell. one of them a baby, were in the nursery with their nurse, Mis M. Champion, and the machine went straight through the nursery, leaving nothing but a square gaping hole in the floor, littered with broken boards and small debris. Practically everything in the room was swept clear and was deposited from the front steps of the house to 100 yards away with pieces of the machine.

The children and their nurse were having breakfast on one side of the house on the ground floor while Mr and Mrs Kebbell were in the breakfastroom on the other side. Other persons were in this area also, and the machine passed through the residence squarely between the two groups. There were six adults and four children in the house or in buildings immediately adjacent. One woman was in the washhouse, and one end of the gable was ripped off this building.

Just before the machine crashed into the house itself, two persons saw the aeroplane approach and witnessed the smash They were Mr M. J. Murphy, a share-milker engaged on the property, and his son, Maurice, aged 18. They said that the machine was approaching from the direction ot Levin, flying toward a gorge to the right of Mr Kebbeil’s home, when it turned to the left. Both thought it might hit the cow-bails, but it missed these. Then it missed some power wires. While still banked to turn, the aeroplane hit the house with a terrific Impact. Both said there was just an explosion and then all was over.