Personal
Mr A. M. Acton-Adams, aged 19, son of the late Colonel P. M. Acton-Adams, D.S.O., V.D., of Kaikoura, has been accepted for a Royal Air Force cadetship at the R.A.F. College, Cranwell, on the nomination of His Excellency the Govenor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, and will be leaving New Zealand shortly to enter on the term commencing in September. The late Colonel P. M. Acton-Adams was well known throughout the Dominion and saw considerable service during the war. -Manawatu Standard, 26/6/1929.
PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.
Mr A. M. Acton-Adams arrived recently by the Corinthic, and is spending a fortnight in London before joining the Royal Air Force at Cranwell as a flight cadet. -Press, 27/9/1929.
SERVICE NOTES.
(From our own correspondent.) LONDON, September 10. Mr A. M. Acton-Adams (Kaikoura) has successfully completed his first year at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Lincolnshire, and he will probably be commissioned in July, 1931. -Press, 22/10/1930.
OBITUARY.
MR A. M. ACTON-ADAMS.
The death has occurred at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, England, of Mr Arthur Morland Acton-Adams. He was a pupil at the College and was killed in a flying accident. Mr Acton-Adams was the second son of Mrs Acton-Adams and Colonel P. M. Acton-Adams, who died a few years ago. His family live at Clarence Reserve, Marlborough. He attended Christ's College for six years, and was a house prefect in School House. For two seasons he was cox of the rowing crew, and was prominent in shooting-activities. Of a happy nature he was very popular among the boys while he was at school.
When still young he made up his mind to fly, and it was his one ambition to join the Royal Air Force. He left College at the end of 1928 and in the middle of 1929 went to England and became a pupil at Cranwell College. He was regarded as a particularly promising flying cadet, and in addition to passing his examinations brilliantly was flying solo earlier than was anticipated.
Mr Acton-Adams was in his twenty-first year when he died. He had four brothers and six sisters. -Press, 17/2/1931.
DOUBLE AIR FATALITY
NEW ZEALANDER'S DEATH.
YOUNG MAN LEARNING TO FLY
BRITAIN'S BAD RECORD.
[from our own correspondent.]
LONDON. Feb. 17.
The Air Ministry announced on February 14 that as the result of an accident near Cranwell, Lincolnshire, to an Atlas aircraft of the Royal Air Force College on the previous day, Flight-Cadet Arthur Moreland Acton-Adams was killed, and Flying-Officer Antony Frederick Paul Anning, the pilot, was fatally injured, dying the same night. Acton-Adams belonged to Kaikoura, New Zealand, and arrived in the middle of 1929 to join the R.A.F. A verdict of "accidental death" was returned at the inquest at Cranwell. Flight-Lieutenant H. Sandiford said he instructed Flying-Officer Anning to take Flying-Cadet Acton-Adams in an Atlas machine for a dual inspection. He himself was later flying when he saw a crashed aeroplane in a field, and he immediately landed and helped to extricate the occupants, who were alive but unconscious and badly injured. In his opinion the crash was the result of an error of judgment on the part of Flying-Officer Anning, in that he took control of the aeroplane too late from Flying-Cadet Acton-Adams.
Leslie Hardy, of Novenby, a farm labourer, said he saw the machine turn nose downward and hit the ground, but it did not catch fire.
The coroner said the aeroplane had been thoroughly inspected and was fit for flight. The young man was learning to fly, was quite confident, and had flown previously, and it was just one of those things that happened in the air. There may have been an error of judgment, but no one could be blamed. This is the twenty-first death this year caused by accidents to Royal Air Force machines. Including the victims of two civil aeroplane accidents, the death-roll in British aviation since 1931 opened is 26.
Year's Bad Record
The aeronautical correspondent of the Morning Post writes: "Royal Air Force fatalities this year have reached a weekly average of more than double that of the last ten years. From 1920 until December, 1930, the highest weekly average of fatalities in the Royal Air Force was recorded in 1926, when the figure was 1.63 a week. During the six weeks of 1931 the average works out at 3.33 deaths a week. Last year the comparable figure was 1.23 and in 1929 it fell to as low as 0.78.
"A good deal of uneasiness is felt about this increase in fatal accidents. The introduction of slots led to a perceptible decline in the accident rate. At the beginning of this year aircraft used for training had their wing slots locked shut, because it was said that this was necessary for instruction. On the dangers of this procedure being pointed out in the Morning Post the Air Ministry ordered that the locked slots should be unlocked, and it is to presumed that the slots in the Atlas, which crashed, were in full operation.
"The large Iris flying-boat, which crashed at Plymouth with a loss of nine lives, was not fitted with wing slots, nor are other standard Royal Air Force flyingboats. The Air Ministry states that it is not yet satisfied that slots are desirable on flying-boats, although the Canadian Department of National Defence has been using thum on its flying-boats and reports in their favour. It is clear that even when every aircraft in the Royal Air Force is slotted many causes of accidents will remain unaffected. Among these are collisions, especially during close formation flying, fog and bad visibility, and imperfect judgment on the part of the pilot.
Overhaul of Methods Demanded.
"This year's bad record will strengthen the demand for a complete overhaul of Air Ministry methods of investigating and reporting on accidents. "At present the coroner's inquest is, normally, tho only public investigation into a sejyice accident. It has been urged for some time that the entire evidence and findings of the technical investigation by the inspector, of accidents should be made available to the public. In no other way is it possible to determine where improvements can be effected.
"According to French computations the rate of fatal accidents for hours flown in the Royal Air Force is now higher than in the French Air Force. The Air Ministry has refused to give the hours flown by the Royal Air Force, so that no answer to this suggestion is possible." -NZ Herald, 23/3/1931.
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