Remains Of Ventura Crew Recovered

Chronicle (Levin), 22 March 1949, Page 2

Remains Of Ventura Crew Recovered

The party of police, airmen from. Ohakea and ciyilians making their second trip into the hills, behind Otaki in an endeavour to reach the old wreck of the R^N.Z.A.F. Ventura, spotted during the search for the crashed aiflirier Kereru last Friday, succeeded in bringing out the re'mains of the four members of the crew. A member of the party who was also ohe of the men who went in to the wreck of the Kereru on»Saturday said that "Saturday's job was child's play to this one." ■ *" . o

The party found nothing amongi the wre'ckage of the Ventura which. was thought worth recovery for .u.e ! in any inquiry which may now te.. held into the loss of the aircraft, I The wreckage had lain undis- 1 turbed in the hills since' February 26, 1946 when the Ventura went missing on a meteorological flight from Ohakea aerodrome. - | The party of 16, under the leadership of Constable J. Gunn, of Palmerston North, and including Messrs. W. Chaney, H. MacDonald, T. Davis and I. 'B. Tomiinson, all i experienced local bushmen, first set out from Otaki on Sunday. After proceeding a considerable distance , it was advised by the pilot of an Auster aircraft, assigned to guide the party to the wreckage, that it was off the route. It was then decided, reluctantly by some members, to return and resume yesterday. The wisdom of that decision is now very apparent. The magnitude of yesterday's expe'dition can be gauged from the fact that although a start was made at 6 a.m., the wrecked plane, situated three miles from Otaki as the crow flies, was not reached until 2 p.m. after a trek through heavy bush country, and the return took until almost 7, p.m. Apart from recovering the remains of the crew members they brought nothing back from the wrecked craft. Nothing was found which might throw light on the cause of the crash. Notes ofidentification hiarks were taken so that

the identity of the plane can be verifled. Progress was exceedingly difflcult throughout the lo'ng aseent, with deep gu-lies thickly covered in secondary growth having to be crossed, and members of the party were many times down on their h'andsand knees. ; From observations made, the plane is stated to have apparently hit one knoll and bounced on to another, disiritegrating as it did so from tliq impact. It cut a wider swathe over a larger area than the ill-fated Kereru. Members of . the . ' party were thankful for the continued help given by the Auster pilot in directing them to the spdt, ' a difflcult task' in' the rough- country. In charge of Flight Lieutenant A. F. Jacobson, the huge radio van frorri Ohakea with its ten tons of equipment was stationed at'Mr. J. H. stevens' property, adjacent to th'e entry to the Otaki waterworks in the Waitohu Valley. The radio van relayed messages from the aircraft to the party and kept in constant touch with it. Reports are to the effcct that all the equipment functioned well, except when the party was in deep gullies, when morse had to be used on account of voice signals becoming appreciably weaker. Messages were also received at the Otaki police station by Sergeant W. S. Hughes, who,. with his assistant, Constable M. Hobbs, deserve praise and gratitude for their untiring efforts in a series of extremely ardous tasks.