Crashed Plane

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 October 1948, Page 5

Crashed Plane

HOW WRECK WAS DISCOVERED SEEN FROM DAKOTA PLANE AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA).— The story of the finding of the wrecked airliner Kaka was told by the captain of a Dakota, Flight-Lieut. C. L. Siegert, D.F.C., after he had landed at Whenuapai from Ohakea this afternoon. He added that photographs had been taken, but were not sufficiently clear for all the details to be visible. “We left Whenuapai at 6.15 a.m. to search part of the National Park area,” he said. “There was a theory that the aircraft might be on the western slopes, and we circled in that vicinity. We had not beei there very long, when the radio operator, FlyingOfficer D. W. Gray, sighted the wreck. A glint of silver against the snoMj was what Flyng-Officer Gray saw, and as we circled at 6500 ft., between 500 and 1000 feet above, it seemed that the Electra had hit the side of the mountain and rolled down into a gully. "The Electra seemed to have been shattered. We could see what we took to be part of a wing, and another large piece that looked like a double tail assembly. Other parts, not identifiable from the air. were scattered about between where the Kaka apparently struck and where bigger bits of wreckage were in the gully. “The wreckage was fairly well covered with snow when we first saw it,” he continued. “We reported by radio that wreckage had been seen, that there was no sign of life, and that we could see no trace of a fire having occurred. Flying conditions generally were quite good, with excellent visibility, but there was considerable turbulence in the valleys, and we could not get down as close as we would have liked. As the sun came up, however, the snow around the wreck seemed to clear a little and we could see the Electra more distinctly”