MOTH PLANE TRAGEDY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 8, 10 January 1929, Page 10

MOTH PLANE TRAGEDY

TWO YOUNG MEN KILLED FIERCE RUSH OF FLAMES After spinning several times in the air from a height of 300 ft., a Mo»fl aeroplane nose-dived, crashed to the ground, and burst into flames at Essen don, Melbourne, on Boxing Day. The pilot and a passenger, who were apparently killed instantly, were burned almost beyond recognition. Their names were:—Brian .Rhodes, aged 21, mo'.oi salesman, and Alfred Heaton, aged IS. mechanic. Rhodes left the Esscndon aerodrome shortly after 5 o’clock in the afternoon in a De Ilavillaml Moth aeroplane. Heaton, who was a frequent visitor to the aerodrome, hail persuaded Rhodes to take him for a flight. According to the stories of several eye-witnesses the aeroplane had been in the air for only a few minutes when it swerved suddenly and descended in a series ot spirals over an open paddock near the aerodrome. Suddenly the machine nose-dived and crashed to the ground. For some seconds it was completely obscured by dense smoke and then fierce flames burst from it. {Several people rushed to the paddock, but by the time they had arrived—about 10 minutes after the accident —the aeroplane had been practically destroyed and the pilot anl the passenger were dead. Mr William Williams, of Ascot Vale, who saw the accident, said that there was-a more than usually heavy discharge from the exhaust pipe at the beginning of the spin. He saw a spurt of flame from some part of the engine just before the 'plane dived to chc ground. Brian Rhodes was the only son, 01 Mr J. s. Rhodes, managing director of Rhodes Motor Co., Pty., Ltd. Aftei leaving school he went to the United States for business experience. He was ar enthusiastic member ol the Australian Aero Club, Victoriai section. He held a. pilot’s license. 11 eat mi was a mechanic employed bj the State Electricity Commission. IK wa< advised tv days before his death that he had been accepted as a candi date for admittance to the Royal Aus trali&a Air Force.