STRUCK BY AEROPLANE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 188, 11 August 1931, Page 5

STRUCK BY AEROPLANE

MOTORIST’S ADVENTURE. j Two men and a girl had a remarkable 1 escape from death at Weston Zoyland, near Bridge water, Somerset, recently, when the motor car in which they were driving was struck by an aeroplane and swept off the road into a field. They were Mr Herbert Sharman, a butcher, of Burrowbridge, near Taunton. Somerset, his 21-year-old adopted daughter, Doreen Symonds, and the Rev. J. Watson, Baptist minister. The aeroplane went on after it struck the car, and this probably saved the people’s lives as, had it crashed on them, it would almost certainly have burst into flames. Mr Sharman’s arm was cut and Miss Symonds had a few minor scratches, but otherwise the three passengers in the car were unhurt. Mr Sharman said later : “It is the worst shock I have e' en had in my life. I was driving the car, which is an open tourer, and fortunately we had the hood up. When we got to Weston Zoyland it seemed as though something had suddenly seized the car and dragged it off the road. “The hood was ripped off and I saw an aeroplane in front of me. Then 1 realised what had happened. After the aeroplane struck us it went on and landed some distance aw’ay. I think my arm must have been cut by a piece of glass from the windscreen, which we smashed. People from the aerodrome came and attended to our cuts. ” By a coincidence, three years ago, the driver of a motor-car was killed at the same spot when his motor-car was struck by an aeroplane which was landing at the aerodrome.