AIRMAN KILLED.
ACCIDENT IN NIGHT-FLYING.
(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. When a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft from an Air Force station in the North Island crashed last night during night-flying training the sole occupant, Flight-Sergeant John Neil Sinclair, lost his life. His mother is Mrs M. E. Sinclair, of Edendale. -Ashburton Guardian, 28/10/1943.
Airman’s Death
An inquest into the death of Plight Sergeant John Neil Sinclair, of Ohakea, was held in Palmerston North yesterday by Mr. A. J. Graham, Coroner. Evidence was given of Sinclair setting out in company with three planes on the night of October 27 and his subsequent failure to check in. Mr. L. E. Neverman, farmer, of Bulls, stated he had seen a plane fly over at about 9.30 p.m., saw it suddenly dive steeply and crash into a bank. He found the pilot to be dead. The engine had sounded to be functioning properly before the crash. A verdict that Sinclair was accidentally killed in an aeroplane smash at Heaton Park Estate, Bulls, was returned. -Manawatu Times, 11/11/1943.
The Royal Air Force Commands website states that John Sinclair was flying a P-40 Kittyhawk fighter at night and practising steep turns at low level when he failed to recover from a dive.
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