MISSING AIRCRAFT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 45, 16 November 1940, Page 8

MISSING AIRCRAFT

Pilot Officer As Sole Occupant SETTLERS HEAR CRASH

(Bv Telegraph—Press Association.)

PALMERSTON N., Nov. 15. An Oxford aircraft with its pilot is reported missing in an area adjacent to Tokomaru following a night cross-country flight from Ohakea aerodrome to Levin and back. The sole occupant of the plane was Pilot Officer lliomas It. Kirk, son of Mrs. Kirk, 13 Inkerman Street, Onehunga. The aircraft was reported to have been heard in the ranges adjacent to Tokomaru at approximately 10.45 p.m. Thursday. Settlers in the locality heard the sound of the engines and later the noise of a crash. Reports also indicate that there was mist or cloud on the ranges.

Au aerial search began at dawn yesterday, and was continued at noon by aircraft from the R.N.Z.A.I. station, Ohakea. Pilot Officer Kirk left Ohakea early' on Thursday evening, being instructed to set a course for Levin, via the coast and return via- Palmerston North. He was due back at the aerodrome about 9.30 p.m., and when he had not put in an appearance at 10 p.m. the aviation authorities began to get anxious. At, dawn both ground and air searches were organized but up to darkness tonight his whereabouts had not been discovered. Settlers at Tokomaru, which is halt way between Palmerston North and Levin, heard a plane circling overhead about 9 p.m. and one of them, Mr. Jamieson, saw it head for the hills. Later he saw a flash and heard a erasb. Other settlers also report having seen a flash. Police Inspector Scott, Palmerston North, and two constables, accompanied by Mr. Honore and another man acquainted with the hili country at the back of Tokomaru, spent all day today on the hills, but were unable to discover anything. Another party, under Constable R. Boyd, Shannon, and other parties of settlers are assisting in the search, but because of the hills being heavy in bush, their task is not light.

Mr. Honore and a companion are remaining in the hills over the weekend.

A search by air also failed to reveal any trace of the missing plane or pilot. Conditions were fairly good for flying on Thursday night, and it is bard to understand how Pilot Officer Kirk could possibly mistake the course. There was a certain amount of cloud about, and it may possibly have been heavier in the neighbourhood of the ranges, where settlers, saw the flash. It is difficult country to search, because of the heavy nature of the bush and precipitous gullies and gorges.