Three Killed in Air Smash

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 20, 25 January 1937, Page 7

Three Killed in Air Smash

Colourful Australian Aviatrix Crashes WITH TWO PASSENGERS. United Press Association—By Electric' Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Monday, 1 a.m. SYDNEY, Jan. 24. One of the most colourful young personalities in Australian aviation ended her career this afternoon, when Miss May Bradford with two passengers in her Klemm Eagle machine crashed into a Desouter plane when taking off at Mascot aerodrome. All three were killed. The passengers are believed to have been Misses Harriet Jane Coley and Jean Sullivan, both aged about 40. P. Hoskins, owner-pilot of the Desouter, said: "I was just taxiing off to make a flight when I saw Miss Bradford’s ‘Golden Eagle’ coming towards me. Miss Bradford apparently did not see me, ‘‘All I could do was to remain stationary. The Golden Eagle continued straight towards me, struck my left wing and passed over the top. ’ ’ Her machine crashed and burst into flames. Hoskins immediately jumped out with a fire extinguisher which was unable to cope with the flames. Other eye-witnesses said Miss Bradford’s machine had taken off without gaining height when the accident occurred. It lost part of the undercarriage in the collision and then crashed. Hoskins and his passengers were uninjured. The wing was torn off his ’plane. Miss Bradford was the only woman in Australia to hold a firstclass pilot’s license as well as the A and B and electrical engineers’ and ground certificates. She had just completed seven years’ apprenticeship in the Mascot workshops and was one of the competitors in the recent air race.