AIR DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1933, Page 5

AIR DISASTER

LINER IN FLAMES

FIFTEEN KILLED IN CRASH.

(United Press Association —By Electric

Telegraph—Copyright;

(Received March 29 at 9 a.m.) LONDON, March 28.

The Imperial Airways three-engined air liner City of Liverpool, burst into flames over Essen and fell in 'a field. Twelve passangers and three of the crew were burned to death.

BODIES UNRECOGNISABLE.

(Received this day at 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, March 28.

It is ascertaind that the - air liner

burst into flames in. mid-air, apparently owing to an explosion in the luel tank after leaving the aerodrome. ' The wreckage covered six hundred square yards. Bodies were recovered almost unrecognisable, nd taken to the Dixmude morgue, while other are still unextricated. ■ ■

Jt is believed that the pilot was .killed when the engine exploded. The machine fell six hundred feet. : Eight of the passengers were -British, three German, and one Belgian. - Miss Voss, of Cologne, a schoolgirl, was about to complete her education in. England. Charles Rowsell, mining director;- wagtaking his first air trip. The detached wing of the aeroplane nearly killed two little girls in a field. The airliner was. of' the Argosy type, and was the first of that type-to be concerned in an accident-involving injury to passengers.

The pilot, Lionel Leleu, was born in 1897, and gained an infantry commission in the iwar. He joined, the airways in 1926, and had flown four thousand hours. ,

Major Brackley, air superintendent for .Imperial Airways,' has flown' to the scene, whither other officials, also Belgian officials, motored. Much luggage was recovered intact. The air disaster • occurred when the City of Liverpool was proceeding, from Cologne 'and Brussels to Croydon. The liner crashed near Dixmude in Flanders. All twelve passengers with the crew, ; consisting -of the pilot, engineer, -and wireless operator, were killed.

The passengers names , qre believed to he Alt' and Mrs L. A. Didbin, Mr Hugh Mcllrath, Miss Kay Mcllrath (brother and sister, of Sydney), Miss Forrester Thompson, Miss Voss,' Mr Rowland (possibly Sir John Rowland), Messrs Dearden, Ivrieglihger,. Rowall, ■;

Thompson and Voss. / , The pilot was Captain Leleu. The ’ other members of .the crew were 35.; ' F. Stubbs and W, R. Brown. The eauso of the accident is at pro.

sent unknown, ... : • Consulting engineers and company officials left for the scene. According!, to press reports the petrol-tanks ex- ' plodcd when the machine came down. ' It is stated that four bodies were found some distance away indicating that they jumped as the plane fell. Three mail bags were found intact and taken charge of by local authorities.

PILOT COMPLETELY BURNED.

(Received this day at 12,35 p.m.) LONDON, March 28. The disaster occurred at 2.45, in perfect flying weather. An eyewitness states the. machine fell as if it were air-pocketed, nose-dived like a stone, and struck a ploughed field with terrific force. It soon became a furnace, preventing the villagers’ attempts at rescue, but it was obvious that the victime were already dead. The pilot was completely burned in the cockpit. Another witness declares after the machine was wholly aflame, it turned over several times. The pilot struggled, to right it. ' ' / ’ ”

Gendarmerie are guarding. the scene where only the skeleton of the framework remains.