A CRASH AT NIGHT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 29, 29 October 1918, Page 8

A CRASH AT NIGHT

HOW AN AIRMAN LANDED

(By Lieutenant A..H. Clegg.) *

My first crash in an aeroplane increased rather than diminished my belief in the safely of Hying. I waa attached to an K.A.F. squadron in England, which provided a thorough practical training l'nr pilots and observers in nil phases of night-flying. One night I was detailed to accompany, a pilot on a sixty miles' reconnaissance. Wβ were to find our way to a certain aerodrome I thirty miles away, fire a white-Verey light over it, and return. It was midnight when we started, and the waning moon was well up in the heavens. After gaining sufficient height we turned west. . In about forty minutes we were over our objective. 1 'fired a white light as a friendly signal to those below, and we turned east for home, with the nose of the machine well down. After covering about six miles I noted with anxiety long whitish flames issuing from the' exhaust pipes. My pilot pointed meaningly to the thermometer as he opened tjie louvres and throttled down the engine m order to get the temperature down. We lost height, but the temperature . remained the same. Finally, as the. "rev." counter began to show less and less revolutions, we decided to land. A large open piece of ground below seemed just the right place. We began to descind. When about two hundred feet from the ground a row of trees backed by an old farmhouse loomed up in front of us. With great presence of mind my pilot pulled, the machine-round just in time tor the right wing-tips to clear mie trees. By now the engine had completely stopped, and we were compelled to land, although.a tall hawthorn hedge, about eighty yards' in front of us, threatened' disaster. As the wheels touched the ploughed ground at about seventy miles per hour my pilot again tried to swing the machine round to the left to prevent a collision with the. hedge. The left wheel buried itself completely while the machine swung completely round with startling suddenness, dipped its nose into the earth, and turned a complete ftomersault. The sudden impact threw mo clear from my nacelle in front, almost without my realising it, and while I lay on the.ground I heard with terrifying distinctness "Cr-r-r-r-r----nimp!" as the machine turned over and settled on its back. I sorted myself out from the tail pieces minus one flying boot, which was still in the nacelle, and walked round the wreckage in search of my pilot. To my great surprise and relief he coolly crept from his inverted "office" absolutely unhurt. We made for the farmhouse nearby, , and when at last we succeeded in finding an' .entrance, a startled voice ..from an tipper, window inquired who we' were. Apparently the farmer , and his wife had heard the crash, and imagined that it was. the sound of a' bursting bomb from a Zeppelin. Upon ' learning the true etate of affairs, they ..made us very welcome, aVd in a very short time wo were sipping hot n, roaring fire. ..Not for a long day shall I forget the and thankfulness in the old lady's voice as she patted us kindly on the, back and said, "Thank God «you arc both safe."