NZ280 Gebbies Pass

[bf]

Hello

I am looking for information about NZ 280 an Airspeed Oxford Mark 1 that crashed near Gebbies Pass on December 16, 1941 after leaving Wigram. My uncle and namesake was one of 3 trainee pilots on the flight.

On board were: Pilot Officer Alan Marshall and Leading Aircraftmen Ronald Brooker, Brian Fitzgerald, and William Lindsay.

I am trying to get the accident report from NZ Archives (but I'm in Aus - so a bit hard).

Any info available would be appreciated.

Brian Fitzgerald

[angelsonefive]

Hello and welcome.

Here is a link that will give you a little information.

aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=65529

[noooby]

Ask Don Subritzky, I bet he has a copy of it somewhere in his files!

[errolmartyn]

From my trilogy For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915 (Volume One: Fates 1915-1942) :

Tue 16 Dec 1941
New Zealand

Transit from Birdlings Flat to Wigram
1 Service Flying Training School (ATS), RNZAF (Wigram)
Oxford I NZ280 - took off at 1355, but strayed off course in heavy rain and low cloud and ten minutes later flew into a hillside at 900 feet in Gebbies Valley, about 2 miles NE of Motukarara, near the crest of a ridge, and caught fire. The staff pilot and his three pupil pilot passengers died and are buried at Onehunga, Waimairi, Christchurch, and Wellington respectively.
Pilot: NZ412249 Plt Off Alan Leslie MARSHALL, RNZAF - Age 21. 200hrs solo (103 on Oxford)
(Pilot): NZ413810 LAC Ronald Stephen BROOKER, RNZAF - Age 26.
(Pilot): NZ413986 LAC Brian Patrick FITZGERALD, RNZAF - Age 19.
(Pilot): NZ413435 LAC William Ian LINDSAY, RNZAF - Age 29.
All three pupil pilots were due for graduation in four days time.

Errol

[errolmartyn]

And from Vol Three (Biographies & Appendices):

MARSHALL, Pilot Officer Alan Leslie.
NZ412249; b Auckland 1 Jan 20; Auckland Grammar; accountant - Spedding Ltd, Auckland. RNZAF Levin /ITW as P u/t 13 Apr 41, 4EFTS 25 May 41, 3FTS 5 Jul 41, Pilots Badge [wef 16.8.41] & Comm 27 Sep 41, 1FTS (Oxford) as staff pilot 9 Oct 41, kaa 16 Dec 41. Onehunga (Hillsborough) Cemetery - 247.O.4. Son of Walter Leslie & Edna Sophie Marshall (née Mackie), Mt Eden, Auckland. [phot. TWN 31.12.41].

BROOKER, Leading Aircraftman Ronald Stephen.
NZ413810; b Dargaville 25 Jul 15; Rotorua High & Grammar Sch (1st XI/XV); assistant accountant - Maple Furnishing, Wgtn. NZ Army/TF (Hauraki Regt) 1yr; RNZAF Levin/ITW as Airman Pilot u/t 6 Jul 41, 3EFTS 17 Aug 41, 1FTS (Oxford) 27 Sep 41, Pilots Badge 8 Nov 41, kaa 16 Dec 41. Chch (Waimairi) Cemetery - 46.17. Son of Stephen Charles & Christine Louise Brooker (née Stechmann, later Humphrey), Upper Atiamuri. [phot. TWN 7.1.42].

FITZGERALD, Leading Aircraftman Brian Patrick.
NZ413986; b Gore 9 Nov 22; Christian Bros HS, Dunedin (1st XV) & Otago Univ/Dunedin TTColl & Chch TTColl; student teacher - Canterbury Education Board. RNZAF Levin/ITW as Airman Pilot u/t 6 Jul 41, 1EFTS 16 Aug 41, 1FTS (Oxford) 27 Sep 41, Pilots Badge 8 Nov 41, kaa 16 Dec 41. Chch (Bromley) Cemetery - 22.4D. Son of John Joseph & Nora Eileen Fitzgerald (née Hanley), Riccarton, Chch. [phot. TWN 7.1.42].

LINDSAY, Leading Aircraftman William Ian.
NZ413435; b Taumarunui 14 Jun 12; Wgtn TColl; labourer - NZR, Lower Hutt. RNZAF Levin/ITW as Airman Pilot u/t 15 Jun 41, 1EFTS 16 Aug 41, 1FTS (Oxford) 27 Sep 41, Pilots Badge 8 Nov 41, kaa 16 Dec 41. Wellington (Karori) Cemetery - 490.N.P. Son of William Edward & Jessie Lindsay (née McRae), Petone. [phot. TWN 7.1.42].

Errol

[davidd]

I hiked up to the wreck of NZ280 about 30 years ago with a friend (fellow enthusiast) and managed to salvage a few small parts which I still have, including the rudder mass balance and parts of the controls (probably part of one of the trimming systems). The details of the accident are exactly as Errol M states in his post, and I also have some more elaborate notes obtained from the full accident report (which anybody can request from Archives NZ, but only it you are prepared to make the trek to Wellington in person). Seems that the pilot was skimming along just below cloud base and sometimes flying through hanging "lumpy" bits (from witnesses on ground) shortly prior to flying into the top of the ridge - it was later estimated that were they another 20 feet up they would never have noticed anything was amiss and would have arrived safely at Wigram. It was speculated that the pilot had inadvertantly misidentified one of the the roads running along the side of the valley (Gebbies or the other one) as one further around (north-west), and thus was further south than he actually was, so assumed he was home and hosed - one of the perils of being able to see straight down, but not far ahead. Apparently an oak tree was planted on the crash spot by relatives and/or the RNZAF at the time, but no such tree is growing there that we could see, probably a victim of the harsh environment on top of an exposed hilltop. Also the local farmer remembered that the RNZAF "salvaged" the two Cheetah engines (which were of course quite extensively damaged by hitting the ridge line) by the simple expedient of rolling them down the (very) steep hillside to the road at the foot of the hill, then loading them onto a truck for return to Wigram. I imagine they postioned the truck AFTER the engines had come to a stop!

One of the things I particularly remember about this wreck (apart from some of the surviving wreckage exhibiting fire damage) was that no wreckage at all was visible on the surface, although there were extensive areas of gorse all over the area which made finding anything at all a small miracle. However we did find the bits and pieces we did by feeling them through the turf with our feet. There was also extensive evidence of tilling of the soil in the area which confused us greatly, but turned out (by talking with local farmers) to be the result of wild pigs rooting around - I was not aware that there were any wild pigs on Banks Peninsula although I did know about the wild goats, turkeys and cockatoos. Apparently the pigs make their way across the plains from the high country in the west by roaming along the braided river systems, but the locals were not too keen that the presence of these pigs become too well known. Of course this was all a long time ago so perhaps they have already been wiped out.
David D

[bf]

Thank you all very much for this.

I was riding up Gebbies Valley a few weeks back which reminded me of this old family story. I am keen to locate the site if at all possible. I always thought the crash happened on returning from bombing practice at Birdlings Flat and so the site would be on east side of the ridge. Other notes indicate it happened shortly after take off from Wigram and so presumably the west side of the ridge. I have ordered the crash report from NZ Archives - and they will send it to me shortly (NZArchives will do this for a $25 fee now!).

Davidd, can you help me out with the site location? Family members have mentioned just above the church in Gebbies Valley - is that about right - on the east side of the ridge?

I plan to be over in Chch again early next year and would very much like to locate it.

Reading the accounts of RNZAF Airspeed Oxfords here is sobering: www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzoxford.htm

Many a young life was lost.


Brian Fitzgerald

[davidd]

Brian,
Crash site was definitely on eastern side of ridge (probably more correctly south-eastern), just north of the fenceline which runs straight up the hillside from beside the church you mention. Site is practically on top of the ridge in fact, grade was very easy, probably only ten - fifteen feet below ridgeline itself - which was rather smoothly rounded from memory, definitely NOT a razor-back! However there is nothing to mark the actual site of accident unless you stumble across some of the remaining wreckage - we were lucky to have advice from the farmer who remembered it from his childhood. The gorse I mentioned may now be better or worse than when we were there all those years ago. And yes, the aircraft was returning from 'the spit' to Wigram when accident occurred. All explained clearly in the accident report. As stated by Errol, P/O Marshall was a staff pilot on the strength of the Advanced Training Squadron (ATS) of No. 1 Flying Training School (usually abbreviated to No. 1 FTS) at Wigram, but had only been 'on the job' for about 9 weeks. There was also another Oxford which crashed in the Kaituna valley at much lower altitude, NZ262 I think, another four young lives lost instantly in July 1940. This aircraft was also en route from Birdlings Flat to Wigram and got lost in low cloud, with staff pilot, plus 3 others, trainee pilots and ground staff.
David D

[bf]

That's great thanks David. You said 'apart from some of the surviving wreckage' - is it obvious when you find it?

Do you remember who's farm the land belongs to? Or at least where the farmhouse is?

Do you have Google Earth? I can't work put how to attach a link of the area you describe .

The coordinates are:

Latitude: 43°41'21.19"S
Longtitude:172°36'55.68"E

Thanks again for your help.

Brian

[davidd]

Brian,
That is a mighty precise location you have, but where did you get it, and what does it indicate? So far as I recall there is no lat/long in the accident report. I am recalling the location from 30 years ago, so would probably be of no more use in locating the site than you would be. Unfortunately I never took any photos of the crash site as there really was nothing to see above ground. All the impressions I remember are included in my previous post, and there was a lot of gorse about then, plus areas of lush grass. I am only presuming that much minor wreckage still remains on site (under the turf), and could even be some larger bits under the gorse, but remember that the aircraft was probably travelling at 130 - 150 MPH when it hit as it was in level flight or perhaps a slight climb at time, so could be spread over a considerable area (or parts of it anyway). Perhaps a metal detector might be of assistance - the Oxford still had quite a lot of steel in its construction, quite apart from miles of copper strip! It is quite probable that the remaining unwanted wreck left on hill top was set alight after all useful equipment, and information to be learned which might help explain the accident, had been removed or noted - they did things like that in those days, as the same thing happened to the Fairey Gordon (NZ629) in 1940. However metal parts usually persist for a long time.
David D

[bf]

Point taken. (I was using Google Earth to look around the ridge-top above the church - and got the coordinates from there. An excellent free program if you are not aware of it.)

www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

Thanks again for your insights and especially the tip about a metal detector!

Brian

[corsair5517]

I walked to this site as well, and about 30 years ago - how time flies! - and if it weren't for a friend having very good information about precisely where the aircraft impacted, I'm quite sure we wouldn't have found it, and even then, we had to search for quite a while before finding debris. I still have a small piece of molten aluminium which was, in fact, just lying on top of the ground; perhaps the pigs had been through and rooted it up?

The walk up there was good fun, though, and the view from up there is well worth the effort! Good luck in the search!