CRASH IN FLAMES

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 188, 17 August 1935, Page 2

CRASH IN FLAMES

PILOT CALLS ROLL AS AIR LINER BURNS LONDON, July 2. The pilot, Staggering, badly hurt, from the blazing wreckage of his air liner, which crashed in the Isle of Man yesterday, anxiously counted his passengers as they scrambled to safety. “One, two, ‘three, four, five six,” he muttered —“Thank God for that!” Then he was taken to hospital with two of the passengers, Mr Cooper, of Manchester, w’ho had head wounds, and Mrs Teare, of Vallagarraghyn, Isle of Man. x Mr C. Wilson, of Manchester, who was homeward-bound after a holiday in the .island said: — “There was no wind, which, I believe, made taking off from Ronaldslay aerodrome, near Castletown, rather difficult. We got clear, but then we seemed to lose height. “I felt a slight par as though part of the aeroplane had grazed a bank, and our wheels touched ground. We

rose again, but not high enough. The wheels caught some barbed wire on the top of another bank and we came dow* astride it. “We were all thrown in a heap on the floor. As I scrambled up I saw flames rising from the starboard engine. “We all scrambled out, but only just in time. The heat was terrific. Within a few moments no one could get within yards of the burning machine. ” Mr Cooper, one of the injured passengers, became unconscious soon aftei admission to hospital. The pilot Captain Robert Pierce, stumbled and fell as he got clear of the machine. The machine, a twin-engined Dt HavTlland Dragon, run. by Railway Ail Services, was a mass of flames fron end to end within two minutes of th( crash.