AIRCRAFT MISSING
SOLO TRAINING FLIGHT
An aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in which Leading Aircraftman John Ronald Scott Orbell was undergoing solo acrobatic training is missing from a South Island flying training school. An intensive search is being maintained.
Leading Aircraftman Orbell's next-of-kin is his father, Major R. G. S. Orbell, of Oamaru, at present in Dunedin. -Evening Post, 19/8/1942.
John Orbell took off in a RNZAF Harvard trainer aircraft for solo aerobatic practice at 7.55am on August 18, 1942. His instructions included not venturing further than 12 miles from the base at Woodville, near Blenheim. He and his plane did not return. No trace of them were ever found.
St Johns Anglican Cemetery, Waikouaiti.
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