AIRMAN KILLED.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19272, 29 November 1934, Page 3

AIRMAN KILLED.

ANOTHER INJURED. ’PLANES IN COLLISION. A Te Aroha Tragedy. STUNTING AT PAGEANT. SPECTATORS WITNESS CRASH. Mr. P. C. Waite, club captain of the Te Aroha Aero Club, was killed yesterday afternoon when the Gipsy Moth ’plane he was piloting in a stunting display at the club s pageant collided in mid-air with Mi. S. J. Blackmore’s De Soutter monoplane, and crashed from a height of 1000 ft. Mr. Blackmore managed to bring Jiis damaged machine down safely, but it overturned on landing, breaking the propeller blades. Mr. Blackmore Avas taken from his plane in a dazed condition, and later collapsed, but it was subsequently reported from the Te Aroha hospital that his condition was not serious, his injuries consisting of a broken nose, a few abrasions to Jhe and bruising on the The tivo ’planes Averej,engaged in a “dog fight,” 1000 ft. up,, over'the Waihou landing field, : {hree miles e from Te Aroha, Avhen in the course of their manoeuvres the Avings of the machines touched. A strut was torn from Mr. Waite’jS. ’plane, causing the wing immediately to collapse and the Gipsy Moth went hurtling doAvmvards in a nose dive. It was completely wrecked. The left wing of the elevator of the De Soutter monoplane Avas practically severed in the collision, and the machine appeared to roll, but the pilot , recovered control, bringing it down in a field adjoining the aerodrome paddock. OAving to the damage to the elevator, however, he lost control and the ’plane overturned. The Mayor of Te Aroha, Mr. R. T. Coulter, was the first of the several hundred spectators who Avitnessed the collision, to reach the machine which crashed on the property of Mr A. Lennard, and he was quickly folloAved by Dr. W. R. Law~ rence, AA r hio happened to be attending a patient nearby and saw the crash. Mr. Waite was dead Avhen examined by the doctor. His skull and both Avrists were fractured, and death JIPy, IOW 111 ' i ' l l ■■ trained pilots to hold an instructor s license. Together with Mr. J. Vincent he was the joint proprietor of a motor business in Te Aroha. The Gipsy Moth was owned by Mr. Martin Scott, of Auckland. The fact that the strut from this machine and one side of the elevator of Mr. Blackmore’s ’plane were picked up some distance aAvay from where Mr. Waite crashed is thought to put the cause of the crash beyond doubt. The fatality is the first of its kind in New Zealand resulting from an actual collision in the air.