SIR ROSS SMITH’S LAST FLIGHT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4427, 14 June 1922, Page 3

SIR ROSS SMITH’S LAST FLIGHT.

A MYSTERY OF THE AHL The tragic unexpectedness of the disaster which resulted in the death of Sir Ross Smith and Lieutenant Bennett shocked Britain as it must have shocked Australia, wrote the special correspondent of. the "Sydney Morning Herald” from London- on April 19. A •simple-hearted, cautious aviator, who had flown half across the world, and contemplated making a complete circuit, was killed in a mere aerodrome display. Sir Ross Smith reached Brooklands on Wednesday last to make final preparations for the world flight, which was to have begun on Anzac Day, April 25. With his brother, Sir Keith Smith, he put up at the golf club and spent Wednesday afternoon interviewing a big party of journalists. On Thusrday. morning every daily newspaper in the country had a long article upon the Viking 4, the last of a long series of amphibians which the Vickers Company developed from the Mark 3, which won the Air Ministry’s competition fpr sea and land aeroplanes at Martlesham in September, 1920. ’As he showed the machine to the journalists Si!' Ross Smith’s pride and faith were manifest. "These men are all desperately keen,” he said, indicating the hands still at work upon Viking 4. “They built my England-Austra-lia machine. I can trust every bolt. I shall sit up here beside by brother,” he went on pointing to the pilot’s seat, “and Bennett will sit behind listening to the engine.” The Tblajl Flight:

Within twenty-four hours all Sir Ross Smith’s beliefs were falsified. At 10 o’clock next morning the Viking 4 was wheeled from the shed for the trial flight over the Brooklands aviation and motoring ground. It was thd first time it had been in the air, and an hour and a half was spent, examining and testing every part of the great machine.. Shortly after half-past 11, in mild, sunny weather, Captain Cockerell, pilot of tne Chalm-ers-Mitchell African flight and. chief testing officer for the Vickers. Company, took his seat in-the Viking 4 for the test, flight. Sir Ross Smith was wearing a light raincoat, a leather helmet, and goggles. He took a seat on Cockerell’s left. Bennett, got in behind. Everything went well Another aeroplane went up, with- a kinema photographer, who took pictures of the Viking 4 in the air. She made a good take-off, the engines worked perfectly, and after half an liour she landed like a bird. Captain Cockerell dropped from the machine and Sir Ross Smith took his place at the controls, with Bennett at his side. Sir Ross Smith was so keen to try the machine himself that he did not wait, for his brother. Keith, who had motored to London, and was a little late in returning. Sir Ross did n'ot even change into full flying kit. Indeed, the engines were not stopped while Captain Cockerell got out, and Sir Ross Smith took over, “Cheerio,” said Captain - Cockerell. “Cheerio,” replied Sir Ross Slmith. A minute or two later Viking 4 was a thousand or 1590 feet aloft. Captain l CockoreWs Story. This is Captain Cockerell’s account of what took place. It is probably the most exhaustive story told, though meagre enough : “I saw what happened. I cannot say definitely what caused the accident, and do not care to theorise, although naturally as a pilot here familiar with the new and best type of Vickers’ machines yet turned out, I have a theory—i theory neither here nor there now. The only man who could tell what actually happened is no longer here. After doing one circuit of the aerodrome, and within five minutes of starting, the machine began a nose dive, and without recovering crashed. Nothing whatever went wrong witn the engines sb fjar as it was possible to judge from the ground, and there was no flame or buckling to indicate a fire or collapse. The whole affair is inexplicable. The machine was all right when I left it.” This is all that can be said with certainty, yet sixteen hundred workers from Vickers’ shop at Weybridge were watching the trial, together with some of. the foremost aviation experts in the country. Thousands of people all had eyes at gaze at the amphibian. She circled around the flying ground, and came back towards Vickers’ shops. Then, when over Cobham Bridge, she suddenly banked, and made a movement which .thrilled every experienced airman below. The amphibian’s head went down fpr a moment. Onlookers thought that Sir Ross Smith was stunting, though at such a low altitude the idea was almost inconceivable. The truth became plain when the aeroplane continued to fall in corkscrew fashion. The pilot made a desperate effort to right the machine. He accelerate! the engines, but could not regain control. It stopped, then got into another spin, rushed down at a terrific speed, and crashed 15 yards outside the Brooklands track. Experts «ay' that in his first attempt Sir; Ross Smith did not stop the spin, at the second he did, but he was too near the ground. When the Viking 4 crashed it was not in a spin, but in a pure nose-dive. The machine was travelling about 100 miles an hour at the time of the accident. After tire' Crash. For a few seconds the onlookers were appalled, then there was a rush of hundreds of men, headed by Sir Keith Smith, who gave a broken cry as the horrible possibilities flashed upon him. He was one of the first to reach the 'plane. His brother lay shattered, crushed beneath the ’bus beyond all human aid. Mr. Temple, the champion motor cyclist, who was first to reach the wreck, heard Bennett groan He lifted him from, the wreckage, but before the doctors arrived Bennett, too, was dead. Dr. Garner, the Brooklands medical officer. saw the acc’dent from Weybridge village. He made for the spot in his motor-car with all speed. Two other doctors were also there within a minute or two, but they could only tell Sir Keith Smith; that theie was nothing to be done.