TIMARU SITTINGS
Armed Forces Service Board (excerpt)
Seventh Day Adventist Kenneth Walter Cox, aged 26, said he had been reared as a Seventh Day Adventist. He admitted that his church allowed him liberty of conscience in regard to non-combatant service. It would be very difficult In camp to keep Saturday as the Sabbath.
The chairman: There would be no difficulty about that. There are a number of men of your faith at Burnham and they all get Saturday off. The appellant: I object to carrying arms, and even in the ambulance unit I would have to carry arms. Mr Tracy: Your church is not opposed to ambulance service? — No. Do you differ from your church in that? — No I am prepared to do ambulance work or work of a non-combatant nature. -Timaru Herald, 5/3/1941.
PLANE CRASHES AT SALISBURY
Young Fairview Man Killed
Making First Flight
Kenneth Walter Cox, aged 27, second son of Mr and Mrs W. J. Cox, Fairview, was killed yesterday when the plane he was flying crashed on the farm of Mr L. P. Cabot, Salisbury, shortly before 4 p.m. The cause of the mishap is not yet known.
It is stated that the plane took off, after much difficulty, from one of Mr Cox’s paddocks on the Rocky Hundreds road, Fairview, and flew over into the gully on Mr Cabot’s property between the Rocky Hundreds road and the main road to Otipua.
The plane was a single-engined, single-seater, privately-owned machine.
Residents of the district heard the roar of a motor earlier in the day, suggesting that an endeavour was being made to get a plane into the air.
Eye-witnesses said that the machine was flying very low. The engine had an exceptionally loud roar. The plane was seen flying down the gully above a small creek and it was approaching a plantation when the crash occurred. It fell about two chains short of the trees with its nose pointing in the direction from which it had come.
The Timaru Police were informed of the crash by telephone and Dr G. R. Kingston was summoned. When the doctor arrived he found Cox dead, he having suffered very severe injuries.
Cox who was a carpenter by trade was unmarried. He acquired the plane about a month ago and this was his first flight. He was not an experienced pilot. -Timaru Herald, 28/9/1942.
PLANE CRASH
Fairview Fatality
No Experience Of Flying
“It is clear from the evidence that deceased had had no previous experience or tuition regarding the flying of an aeroplane,” said the Coroner, Mr H. Morgan, at the inquest, which was concluded yesterday, into the death of Kenneth Walter Cox, a carpenter, aged 27, of Fairview, who was killed instantaneously when he crashed in attempting to fly a Pou-de-Ciel plane at Fairview on September 27 last. Constable J. P. Mather conducted the inquiry.
“Cox obtained this aeroplane of the ‘flying flea’ type and, with the book knowledge he had obtained, set out to try to fly,” Mr Morgan continued. “It is not clear from the evidence that he was aware that previous attempts to get the plane into the air had failed. The evidence did not show that the plane was suitable for flying, and, in addition to the pilot’s inexperience, it had got out of control and crashed. Cox was very seriously injured with various multiple fractures and died instantaneously. I return a verdict accordingly.”
An Erratic Flight Bertie Frame, farmer of Salisbury, said that at 2.45 p.m. on September 27 he was at Fairview where he saw Cox working on the engine of a small aeroplane which was in a paddock adjoining Cox’s home. Cox had the spark plugs out of the engine and appeared to be adjusting the points. He asked Cox if he had ever flown a plane and he replied that he had not. Witness had seen Cox taxi-ing the plane around the paddock and doing short hops of two or three feet off the ground and then landing again. The engine seemed to be functioning all right.
“I had left Fairview,” witness continued, “and while walking up past Mr L. P. Cabot’s cowbail I looked back and saw Cox take off from near his home; he took off towards the north, going approximately half a mile, and then east and came back towards where I was standing. The plane was never nearer to me than 200 to 300 yards, and was at a height which I estimate at 100 feet. Throughout the flight the plane was flying in a most erratic manner — sharply up and down. The engine seemed to me to be going at a constant speed and functioning all the time. The plane turned towards the west and passed a clump of macrocarpa trees in the gully at the bottom of Mr Cabot’s farm. The plane appeared again round the trees coming towards me. I entered Mr Cabot’s shed to get my cycle when I heard the aeroplane engine cut out and a crash. I immediately ran down the gully and saw the aeroplane had nose-dived straight into the ground. Cox was dead when I arrived. I rang the police from Mr Cabot’s house. As the plane was in flight it seemed that the pilot was in difficulties.
A Word of Warning Gerald Leonard O’Donoghue, auctioneer, of Salisbury, said that on the morning of September 27 he had seen Cox trying out a small aeroplane in a paddock adjoining his home. "After having the engine running for about 10 minutes,” the witness continued, “Cox got into the cockpit of the machine and taxied it across the paddock. Cox then informed me that he did not intend to try to lift the machine until he had run her up and down the paddock several times. I saw him do this and as the engine did not seem to be running too well I advised him not to attempt to fly the machine. I then returned to my home at Salisbury. Cox told me that he had had no previous experience of flying, only in the capacity of a passenger on one or two occasions.
“About 3.45 p.m.,” the witness continued, “I was looking towards Cox’s home, which is about one mile distant from my place, and saw Cox making numerous attempts, eventually getting the machine into the air. The wind was blowing from the north-east and Cox took off into the wind. He did one complete circle of the paddock where he started, and I thought he was going to land. The machine came down very close to the ground and then took an erratic course as if Cox intended making the same circle again, but went out of my sight behind a plantation. The next thing I heard was a crash. I immediately dashed in that direction and found the wrecked aeroplane with its nose buried in the soil at the bottom end of Mr Cabot’s property. The plane was in a gully just clear of the plantation. Cox appeared to have been killed instantaneously. Nothing could be done for him, so he was not moved.”
Severe Injuries Dr. G. R. Kingston said that on arrival at the scene he found that Cox, who was dead, had been very severely injured. He had a deeply penetrating wound into the right temple, a fracture of the base of the skull, a broken neck, the lower jaw was smashed, a broken breast bone, a double fracture of the right thigh, and a compound fracture of both legs. Cox had been hurled against the engine of a nose-diving aircraft. Death would be instantaneous.
Walter James Cox, builder, residing at Fairview, father of the deceased, said that early in August, 1942, his son purchased a small aeroplane in Christchurch. He had had the aeroplane at witness’s home and had been overhauling the engine and putting the plane in serviceable condition. “My son had been up in other aeroplanes as a passenger only, and as far as I am aware had never been at the controls of any aeroplane. He had had no tuition in flying, but had studied books on flying for many years, and had always been keenly interested in flying. He was not the holder of a licence to fly a plane. On the morning of September 27 he was taxi-ing it around the paddock and trying to get the feel of the controls of the machine. While at lunch his son had said that he would take the plane into the air, and, after circling the paddock once, would then leave it alone. My son was in normal health at the time. I consider he was alert, especially as far as machinery was concerned. He was a teetotaller.”
Formal evidence as to the removal of the body from the wrecked plane was given by Constable C. G. Gadsby.
Machine Wrecked Constable J. P. Mather gave evidence that the front part of the aircraft, which was a modified Pou-de-Ciel type, more commonly referred to as a Flying Flea, was buried in the ground, and the propeller and under-carriage of the bodywork completely smashed. The main members of the fuselage at and about the cockpit were smashed to matchwood and that portion where the pilot’s legs would normally be had been forced up under the rear of the engine. The steel tubing carrying the forward wing had been bent into a modified U, apparently by the impact with Cox’s head. The impact with the earth was so severe that the landing wheels had shorn a number of rivets and the rims were badly dented. An examination of the leading edge of the forward wing showed that it was crushed for its full length by the impact with the ground, which indicated that the plane had landed head on. The rear wing, rudder assembly and rear portion of the fuselage were intact. The plane had been travelling almost in a direct north-easterly direction. The engine, which was a specially designed power unit for this type of aircraft, had been torn apart from the fuselage and the forepart and propeller-hub were buried in the ground. The fact that the ignition switch was on the “off” position could not be regarded as positive evidence that Cox had switched the engine off before the crash as it could have been pushed into this position by the forward movement of Cox’s body at the crash. Petrol was leaking freely from the tank in the forward wing, indicating that the crash had not been due to engine failure through lack of fuel. There was a fair to strong easterly wind blowing at the time, but the day was fine and visibility good.
Aero-dynamics Unsatisfactory “Inquiries made by the Police Department,” continued the witness, “show that the plane was built in Christchurch by a flying enthusiast named Owen, now deceased. Owen had incorporated several unorthodox features into the plane. Several attempts were made by Owen and others to fly the machine without any success; they were never able to get the machine to lift off the ground. The aero-dynamics of the machine were considered unsatisfactory, the principal objection being that the lower main plane was set aft of the pilot, and the upper main plane forward of the pilot, with the result that, when the aircraft became airborne, a slot effect was caused on the rear wing and increased the lift on the rear wing, which tended to push the nose of the aircraft down to lose height rapidly. It is considered that any change in design in an attempt to overcome the extra lift on the rear plane would increase the slot effect on the rear plane and stall the front plane and so cause a vertical dive.” -Timaru Herald, 16/12/1942.
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