FORCED LANDING

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20507, 25 May 1938, Page 6

FORCED LANDING

AEROPLANE DAMAGED OCCUPANTS’ LUCKY ESCAPE (By Telegraph.—Press Association) HASTINGS, Tuesday The last aeroplane owned by th# Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Aero Club was put out of commission when making a forced landing on the Napier aerodrome at 4.10 p.m. to-day after the engine failed when the aeroplane was at a height of 200 ft. Neither the pilot, Mr P. Barron, nor the passenger, Mr P. Jessop, was injured, although the machine was extensively damaged. As the wheels touched the ground the machine swung round on the lefi ' wheel, coming to rest facing the opposite direction to that Jn which it had come in. The two lower wings and the upper starboard wing were twisted out of shape, the longerons running the length of the aeroplane were broken in front of the cockpit, and the propeller tips were smashed off. One of the undercarriage struts came through the floor of the front cockpit and the passenger had a fortunate escape from injury. Mr Barron, who has approximately 100 hours’ flying to his credit, is a capable pilot and those who saw the accident said that he was making a normal cross-wind landing at the time the undercarriage collapsed.