PLANE CRASHES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1939, Page 8

PLANE CRASHES

TRAGEDY ON EAST BARRIER ISLAND PASSENGER KILLED AND PILOT INJURED. AUCKLAND CLUB MACHINE WRECKED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND. March 17. A Miles Magister low-wing monoplane belonging to the Auckland Aero Club crashed into tussocky marshland about 200 yards from the aerodrome boundary on G-peqt Barrier Island this afternoon, killing the passenger and seriously injuring the pilot. The machine, which was acquired by the club about a year ago at a cost of £lB5O, was completely wrecked. The occupants were: — Killed: W. H. Claris, aged about 32, single, believed to have relatives in Wellington. He was Public Works engineer in charge of the aerodrome on the island. Injured—E. M. Walker, Auckland, double fracture of right leg and injuries to the face. He is in the Auckland Hospital. There are only fragmentary details about how the accident happened. Till Mr Walker has recovered sufficiently to give a coherent account the full story will not be known. According to information furnished by onlookers some distance away there was engine trouble and the monoplane rapidly lost height. Before the pilot could recover control it struck the ground. Mr Claris was shockingly injured and death must have been instantaneous. When the first of the rescuers arrived they found Mr Walker sitting among the twisted wreckage of the machine. He was obviously seriously injured and in grbat pain so they forbore moving him and did all they could to make him comfortable, in spite of the lack of adequate first-aid equipment on the island. The nearest telephone was some distance from the aerodrome and one of the workmen had to run across rough country to reach it quickly. The accident happened at about 1.50 p.m. Mi’ Walker set off from Mangere Aerodrome at 9.45 a.m., called at.Tauranga, and on his way back to Auckland decided to visit Great Barrier Island. He picked up Mr Claris, apparently to take him for a trip, but whether the crash occurred shortly after the machine took off or on the return journey is uncertain since Mr Walker was too badly hurt afterwards to make any statement. Observers said flying conditions were good. Telephone communication was established with the mainland. The Beechcraft flying amftulanpe was being overhauled and could not be placed in commjssjqn befqpe Sunday. A message was sent to Commodore Rjvett-Carnjp, commanding the New Zealand naval squadron and he gave permission for Lieutenant Nicholl, of H.M.S. Leander, to fly a Supermarine Walrus Amphibian across from Hobsonville to the island. In the meantime arrangements were made' for the dispatch of a doctor from the hospital. The amphibian took Off from Hobscnville at 2.50 p.m. and flew to Mechanics’ Bay, where Dr Gilmour, a member of the hospital medical staff, was waiting. The doctor clambered on board and the machine soared away. Meanwhile those residents living near the aerodpqmp on th.e island did all they could, with the meagre equipment qt thpip disposal, to make the injured ’pilot comfortable. Squadron Leader D. M. Allan, chief instructor to the Auckland Aero Club, and Mr A. Slater, chief ground engineer, set off in a Tiger Moth from Mangere, at 3.40, to give what assistance they could and to find out if possible how the tragedy occurred. They returned to Auckland about an hour after the amphibian arrived at Hobsonville. Lieutenant Nicholl made a perfect landing at Hobsonville at 6.25 p.m. A number of air force men lifted Mr Walker carefully from the body of the fusplage and placed him in a waiting air' force ambulance, which travelled (lowly over a bumpy stretch of three miles of road between Hobsonville and the Great North Road. As soon as the ambulance arrived al Auckland Hospital. Mr Walker was taken to the theatre. Till an X-ray examination is made the full extent of his injuries will not' be known. It is understood the body ci Mr Claris will be brought to Auckland tomorrow morning by aeroplane.