AIR CRASH

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1932, Page 6

AIR CRASH

CORONIAL ENQUIRY. ' TESTS FOR NEW ZEALAND TRIP. SYDNEY, August 2. An irfquest regarding the deaths of Reginald- Mitchell and Henry Barnes, who were killed when an aeroplane crashed at Quaker’s HIM on June 16 Has been held in' .Sydney. Reginald Mitchell, father of one of the deceased, said his son received his dying license in 1926. On June 16 he wtent to Quaker’s Hill to. make trial flights before going to New Zealand. His son had never complained about the machine, but had said the engine was perfect. His ison had made 64 flights in the plane. Arthur Frederick Ison, licensed ground engineer, said the plane had twice been forced down owing to trouble in the cooling system. It* was not in the air again until the day of the tragedy, and it had only been up for ten minutes when it went into a very deep bank and dived to the ground.

Replying to. the coroner, Witness said an air disturbance appeared to be responsible. It was a first-class plane. Donald Harkness, designer of the engine,, said he did not actually see, th° crash, but be put it down to an error of judgment on the part., of the pilot. ■ Ryder Harrison Thompson,, aged : 16, a farm hand, said he saw.the plane be 7 fore it nose-dived. He did not hear the ■engine shut off and come on again. When- it dived it struck some frees.

George Thomas Mills, dairy farmer, said that'on the day ot the accident the machine had had one “turn” in the air and had landed’ nicely. It' had gone up -icrfiin and was going steadily over his hodse when it turned and circled over the forest. A gust of Wind caught the nlnne and turned it right round and it fop among the trees.

Cliv© Murray Waller, air pilot, said that he saw the plane in 1930. He had’ flown the machine seven times and had" found that it had capabilities that were ‘unusual. It was exceptionally .easy to handle and was 'quick to respond to the controls. It had a low gliding angle, which was a favourable feature. In the witness’ dpinioh nothing weii.v wrong with" the machine to have caused the accident. An air disturbance over the trees would rtiak© a machine bank .steeply and so cause the' wing or parts of the structure to come into contact with the trees'.

Th». coroner read a report of the fnd tog of the committee of the'Oomnionwealth Air Navigation Department, which'said that the aircraft Was an experimental machine, for which no certificate of airworthiness had heeii jssued, nor was the plane registered: Tito action hf the aircraft at the time it came down Out’ of control indicated 1 a' normal stall.

The coroner,: in announcing hUr Vb - diet, said “lt seems inconceivable that Mitchell, as an experienced pilot, ehould meet with an accident purely through the wind. "I find' that Mitchell and Rarn'gs ’ died, paying to the plane fail ing Oil to' : some trees, -whereby the' injuriesfrom Which they- died' Were cause 1 *’