THREE LIVES LOST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1939, Page 5

THREE LIVES LOST

ANOTHER BOMBER CRASHES IN AUSTRALIA HEAVY CASUALTY LIST IN PAST YEAR. LATEST DISASTER OCCURS • IN FOG. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. ’ MELBOURNE, May 2. Another Air Force crash occurred today when an Avro Anson bomber nose-dived during heavy fog into Port Phillip Bay, three persons being killed. The victims were: Pilot Officer R. J. Davis, of West Australia; Corporal Gordon Peake, of Victoria, and Aircraftman J. Quinn, of New South Wales. One bodv was found. floating among the tangled wreckage. The others were trapped in the half-submerged plane. Today’s crash makes the toll of Air Force dead in Australia 22 in 12 months, and of 17 crashes 11 have been Avro Anson bombers.

A fishing party were the eye-wit-nesses of today’s accident. They saw the Air Force machine flying in low fog over the bay. Apparently it had lost its bearings. Suddenly it nosedived from about 100 feet, a terrific explosion occurring when the plane hit the water. ’

The plane was one of two engaged in formation and wireless exercises. They left Laverton air base at 9 a.m. but became separated in the fog, which was very dense, according to the weather officials, between 500 and 1000 feet, but relatively light below 400 feet. Residents of St. Kilda saw the illfated plane flying low over the foreshore shortly before 10 a.m. The engines were then running perfectly but the plane was moving slowly. Mr Joseph Maxwell who was in charge of a fishing launch in the bay at the time of the crash said he and members of his party were watching the plane "which appeared to make a half turn at about 100 feet and then to nose-dive • with an appalling crash. A launch sped to the spot and the tail of the plane was made fast to the launch, keeping it above water while the rest of the plane was submerged. The Air Board had no comment to make regarding the cause of the crash. The unofficial theory is that the plane stalled.