PLANE’S TRAGIC CRASH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 823, 18 November 1929, Page 9

PLANE’S TRAGIC CRASH

TWO FLYERS DROWNED OFF BEACH FIANCEE SEES DISASTER SYDNEY, Sunday. A double tragedy marred the Automobile Club’s races at Seven Mile Beach, Kaima, yesterday afternoon. A Moth plane crashed in the sea and the pilot, Mr. Jesse O’Connor, and Mr. William Berg, a Press photographer. who had been engaged in taking pictures of the races, were drowned. The machine nose-dived several hundred feet and struck the water just outside the breakers. Rescuers sVam out to the spot and found Mr. Berg’s body near the airplane, which was badly damaged, the engine having been wrenched clear of the fuselage. Mr. O’Connor’s body was not seen, and it was thought that possibly it was entangled in the wrecked machine. Several of the rescuers were badly buffeted in the rough serf. Captain Les. Holden, who witnessed the accident, said that evidently the engine had stalled owing to the slow air-speed of the machine. The pilot was an experienced man and popular in flying circles. His' fiancee witnessed the crash. Mr. Berg was widely known. His greatest achievement was when he went to Alice Springs. Western Australia, with the expedition which recovered the bodies of Lieutenant Anderson and Mr. Hitchcock, who perished while they were searching for the Southern Cross. The first man of his profession to penetrate to the desert country in the heart of North Australia, Mr. Berg also is the first Press photographer to meet death while covering an assignment in an airplane. He had just bought a car in order to go on a holiday with his wife. Reed. 10 a.m. SYDNEY, Today. Mr. O'Connor's body was recovered at. Seven Mile Beach on Sunday.