AIRMEN KILLED

Hokitika Guardian, 18 May 1929, Page 5

AIRMEN KILLED

PRACTISING STUNTS. IS •—f— 11 < ifsc A t'United Presr Telegraph—Copyright.) ' * s .O } ’ r T P’V <4 >•?. LONDON, May»l7. There were two air crashes «,|and three deaths , .1 j *’? 1 ' Elying Officer’ J'. W. !s&yes, swp'ho was flying a Sisk in, tising stunts for acrobatic display, was the first. Bayes was half Vay through the display, and flying upside down within fifty feet of the ground, and had successfully carried out a flick loop, and was doing a slow roll when the machine dropped like a stone. Tongues of flame immediately shot up a hundred feet, enveloping the plane. Bayes was incinerated before the horrified spectators at the aerodroriie were able to reach the wreckage. The second disaster occurred! at Wey bridge, when.;Flight f Lieutenant Scholefield “ and Mechanic Sherratt were flying a Vickers Vanguard, ( ■ An eye-witness related that ..when flying low a terrific explosion . <took place in the petrol tank, scattering parts of the machine, some of which descended hundreds of yards apart. Sherratt, appearing as a tiny figure against the sky, leapt out, hut s'truck the ground with such force as .to be almost completely • buried; The plane took fire, the fierce) heat preventing all attempts to reach Scholefiekl’s body. Scholefield was among the . best known British pilots and air racers.