PLANE CRASHES INTO CHOPPY LYALL BAY

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 September 1950, Page 4

PLANE CRASHES INTO CHOPPY LYALL BAY

TWO OCCUPANTS RESCUED PLUCKY YOUNG BOY WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA),

, —A crippled Wellington Aero Club Chipmunk (Z.K.-A.P.N.) aircraft with two o n board cartwheeled into choppy waters in. Lyall Bay late on Saturday afternoon, after the engine had failed. The occupants spent a few nightmare minutes in the overturned aircraft when th e canopy jammed, but were rescued, a girl passenger largely by ■ the Initiative and pluck of a 12-year-j old boy. I Those in the aircraft were Mr. I Ernest David Nicholson, pilot, aged ■ 23, machine operator, of 30 Tinakori • Road, Wellington. (He is an Englishman and has been in New Zealand three years and has 26 hours of flying lime) and Nancv Malin, aged 20, stud- • ent pilot, jeweller’s assistant, of 41 ? Derwent Street, Island Bay. She nas ■ three hours 45 minutes’ time. STILL IN HOSPITAL ' Both were still in hospital today. ; Mr. Nicholson with shock and expos- ' ure and bruising, and Miss Malin similarly affected, and a dislocated jaw. The condition of both is satisfactory. Lewis Ferris, aged 13, was collecting pumice on the beach when he saw ; the aircraft crash. He stripped to the , waist and after a cold, exhausting 300 to 400 yards swim held up the badly shocked and exhausted Miss Malin till help arrived. An eye-wi’,ness expressed the belief that he probably saved her life. The aircraft was hauled from the water at mid-afternoon today. It is considered to be almost a total loss. “The plane seemed perfectly normal when we took off.” said Mr. Nicholson. “At about 450 feet the engine made a terrific racket and there was excessive vibration in the aircraft. It started to let down. I knew T could not make Evans Bay and the alternative, if I had kept going ahead, would have bf*en to nlunee into houses in Miramar. I decided the best thing to do was to turn hack and try to make the airfield, or Lyall Bay Beach. I was relying on the engine give m e a burst to the airfield, but a strong northerly wind beat me. “I tri nd to bring her down as close Io the shore as I could, but the wind carried us out over the bay and we hit the water. I think first with the starboard wing, and then turned over. The cabin immediately filled with water. I tried to open the canop\ r ullv to get out. but it was jammed. I nulled the jettison string, but it did not work. I gave the canony a mighty heave and wrenched it free. I releas cd myself and slid to the after cocknit. where Miss M n lin was still stranded in. I released her and pulled her out. We came up beneath the wing and T felt the wav clear, hanging on to Nancv and the aircraft. About, three minutes later the Chipmunk Rank. “Nancy could not swim. I was fully clothed andw as feeling knocked about and tired. Nancy w°s getting very heavy. I hung on till a young boy came. Ho took Nancy from me an- 4 then Alan Valois, Pat Millward and mv brother, Sydney Nicholson, swam out. Sydney, himself, got into difficulties, as he had gone in with all his clothes on. A dinghv came up behind us. picked us un, and wont tn the assistance of my brother. We were taken ashore and Nancv was given oxygen in the ambulance. Earlier, T had been worried about her nanickin'* but sh e was a brick throughout. Miss Malin said Rhe knew somethin'’ v as wrong when the engine “conked.” She "ave a similar account of events as Mr. Nicholson. She put her dislocated jaw back into pl n ce herself. It [was easily and often dislocated. Lewis Ferris, a robust lad, is a Standard V boy. He said he saw the plane sideslin toward Mon The right wing hit the water and she turned right over. “An old man told me to go out, but said he could not help me. so I went on my own. It took me three or four minutes to get out there. I took the ■girl from th e man and started back toward the shore with her, but she was too heavy. So I held iter iherp by the hair. “It seemed weeks that I held her. It was probably three or four minutes, then someone took her off me. A dighy took me in. I got dried, had a cun of tea and came home in a flyin" uniform.” He seemed particularly thrilled over this last fact. He has bee n swimming since he was three years old and has been n member of the Maranui Surf an i Life-Saving Club for two and ahalf years. DINGHY WORK. Mr. S. A. McGuire, 4 Moa Point, manned his lift. V-bottom dinghy with two others and rowed to the rescue. He was reticent about his part. “We carried the boat down to the beach and had a lot of hard rowing. We were blown off-course and had to turn against the wind to make the crashed aircraft. We brought back , the pilot and the girl, and the young boy. The girl would have teen in a bad way if the young chap had not ] go n c out there.”

Aero Club members worked from a launch until midnight to locate the Chinmunk. Today, when the tide rad the aircraft closer to the shore intn eight to 12 feet of wa’e v , salvage efforts were more successful. C -ann’’ng hooks were firmly embedded and a rope was tied round the tail wheal. The Chipmunk was towed as close as possible to the shore and then '’•ag' v e'’ to the beach bv a truck. Gaping gashes were rent in lhe win"*?, nro’-*ab’v bv lhe grannlin" hooks. The r ;*arbo n rd wing w°s rinned from the fuselagn and was barPy h-ttm’od. T!>« nose, too, was in a bad state. The pronoi’Ar v;rs n?’-fiy vq-enched awav. A"”o Club membc’s decided to work io saw. narts before co*-rn-nt in The Chinruink Z.K.-A.P.N. : s one of two to the club. The o'her was Involved in a crash eomn time ego and is no ■ bein-' r r *- nairad. Chipmunks are enclosed r-’o”o l anes with double cockpits and with sleek lines

Week-end Fir*' Calls An inrhymit fire in a resklence in I ive”nool Street was responsible for the V’an ’anui Fire Brigade receiv'n . a cn’l al 12 58 p.m. c i Saturday. A bucket pump was u ,n d and there wa” ’’o damage. At 2.53 p.m. yesterday the brigade was caleld out to Helmorc

S<reet. Wanganui East, where some brr.b'o3 had caught alight. A firstr.id hose was used and the fire was extinguished before any damage resulted.