DISASTER IN FOG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 295, 14 December 1936, Page 8

DISASTER IN FOG

SEVEN BRITISH BOMBERS FORCED LANDINGS AND CRASHES TRAGIC RESULTS I By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Received Dec. T 3, 7.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 13. Fog caused disaster to seven Hayford bombers, forming No. 14'2 bombing squadron, flying from Aldergrove to Finningley, Yorkshire, which only one machine reached. Of the remainder one crashed with the loss of three lives on a rifle-range at Hebbenbridge, Yorkshire, where villagers found a dazed a.rman with bleeding face and his tunic ablaze stumbling through the mist. It was Pilot-Sergeant Otter, who said he lost his bearings. Ice-coated wings caused the ’plane to strike a steep ascent , while he was looking for a landing place. The villagers found the 'plane a mass of flames, with two occupants already burned to death. The third, mortally burned, died before he reached hosp.tal. Two ’planes made a forced landing in Cheshire, one safely. The other tore through a hedge and two sets of iron railings, knocked down a telegraph pole and then upended and buried its nose in the ground. The threp occupants had a narrow escape. A fifth, like its companions, lost direction and circled above Oldham. When engine trouble developed the four occupants escaped by parachute and landed safely except for the pilot, who broke a leg. The ’plane came down in flames.

The rema ning two ’planes made forced landings in other districts. This is the Air Force's 51st accident during 1936. in which the tota! deathroll is now 93.