CHICHESTER INJURED.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18409, 17 August 1931, Page 7

CHICHESTER INJURED.

CRASH IN JAPAN. PLANE STRIKES A FENCE. MACHINE COMPLETELY WRECKED. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. TOKIO, August 15. The New Zealand airman, Mr F. C. Chichester, when starting on the last lap of his flight to Toklo from Katsuura yesterday at 9 a.m., encountered difficulties in an attempt to take off from the water and after a struggle of 50 minutes to gain altitude failed to clear an electric cable. The machine crashed Into a stone embankment and the airman was seriously injured in the head, eye. chest and thighs. The stone fence which his machine struck was at the Hot Spring Hotel. Mr Chichester was pinned to the ground by the machine, which was completely wrecked. The townsfolk hurried to the scene of the accident and carried the airman to a neighbouring hospital at Shlngu, where it was found that an eyelid was lacerated and other parts of his body badly bruised and torn. The chief of the Aeronautic Bureau states that Mr Chichester's machine Is useless for further flight. NEW’ YORK, August 15.

The Toklo correspondent of the New York Times says Mr F. C. Chichester was taking off from Katsuura for Toklo at 9.15 a.m. yesterday, when, after several attempts to gain altitude, his machine crashed into a stone wall. The airman was somewhat seriously Injured and he will be laid up for several weeks, but the doctors at the hospital in the neighbouring town of Shlngu, where he was taken by train, report that he will recover.

The Government Aviation Bureau has sent officials and doctors to care for him. The townsfolk, who rushed out to extricate the airman from his aeroplane, which was badly damaged, described how he vainly struggled against the wind, which drove him low over the cliffs near to the water. There he encountered a cable, which caught a wing of his machine. The townsfolk carried him to a local doctor and at noon he was removed to Shlngu Hospital, where it was found that his Injuries were not so serious as was at first thought. The lacerations, it Is expected, will heal within a month. The airman Is In good spirits and says he will continue his flight to Britain via the Arctic as soon as he has recovered. The Governor of the Prefecture has been instructed to render all assistance.