Crashed Plane Located in Wild NG country
p. 36 · Read in the full issue
Wild NG country
From Our Own Correspondent WAU Feb 15 A PARTICULARLY good job of work was done by Assistant District Officer D. Vertigan, Mr. H. Erskine (Medical Department), and Captain Tay lour (Civil Aviation Inspector) in locating the Hercules plane which crashed near Marble Creek, a tributary of the Bitoi River, on February 6. This region is wildly mountainous, heavily timbered and scarred with deep, forbidding ravines, but the three men and 20 natives reached the wrecked machine after 16
hours’ hard and difficult travelling from Black Cat settlement. An indication of the “toughness” of the journey is gained by the fact that they had to cross swiftly-running creeks about 40 times.
The bodies of the pilot, Frank Buchanan, 24, and his naative passenger, killed in the accident, were carried back to Black Cat.
The Hercules, one of Stephens’ Aviation Co.’s fleet, was flying between Sala maua and Wau, and it appears that it was carried by a down-draught into a narrow opening in the mountains, where there was little hope of turning to re gain height. Apparently the machine went into a spin and crashed.