Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 27, 2015 21:39:04 GMT 12
Here's an interesting story perhaps overlooked by most.
The entry on the www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzaircraftlist.htm page for Vampire NZ5777 gives a very scant service record, and very little about its end when it crashed in 1962. All the page states is:
"BOC 15 October 1956. Crashed at Kairanga on 21 August 1962 after engine fire. Pilot bailed out safely."
Well I found this old article from The Canberra Times dated Wednesday 22 August 1962 which has a bit more detail...
Flaming Vampire Misses Suburb
WELLINGTON (N.Z.),
Tuesday (A.A.P.-Reuter).
—A Royal New Zealand Air Force jet pilot risked his life to-day to prevent his flaming Vampire aircraft from crashing into suburban Palmerston North. The aircraft crashed in flames near Kairangi Airstrip, two miles from the city.
The pilot, Fit. Lt. Michael Charles Airey, 27, baled out and was uninjured. The plane was on fire as it passed over Palmerston North but the pilot stayed with it until it was well clear of the city. An Air Force spokesman said to-night a court of inquiry would be held into the crash.
When it crashed, the Vampire carved a hole five feet deep and 25 feet long in a paddock stocked with ewes and lambs. Pieces of the plane were scattered over a 300 yard area. Airey parachuted to the ground a quarter of a mile away.
The entry on the www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzaircraftlist.htm page for Vampire NZ5777 gives a very scant service record, and very little about its end when it crashed in 1962. All the page states is:
"BOC 15 October 1956. Crashed at Kairanga on 21 August 1962 after engine fire. Pilot bailed out safely."
Well I found this old article from The Canberra Times dated Wednesday 22 August 1962 which has a bit more detail...
Flaming Vampire Misses Suburb
WELLINGTON (N.Z.),
Tuesday (A.A.P.-Reuter).
—A Royal New Zealand Air Force jet pilot risked his life to-day to prevent his flaming Vampire aircraft from crashing into suburban Palmerston North. The aircraft crashed in flames near Kairangi Airstrip, two miles from the city.
The pilot, Fit. Lt. Michael Charles Airey, 27, baled out and was uninjured. The plane was on fire as it passed over Palmerston North but the pilot stayed with it until it was well clear of the city. An Air Force spokesman said to-night a court of inquiry would be held into the crash.
When it crashed, the Vampire carved a hole five feet deep and 25 feet long in a paddock stocked with ewes and lambs. Pieces of the plane were scattered over a 300 yard area. Airey parachuted to the ground a quarter of a mile away.
