Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 11, 2024 16:45:50 GMT 12
This is a bit different, from the New Zealand Herald, 11 January 1944
CRASH OF VAN
13 AIRMEN HURT
SIX IN HOSPITAL
SOMERSAULT OVER RAMP
(NZPA) DUNEDIN, Monday
Thirteen members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force who are stationed at the Taieri aerodrome were involved in one of the most sensational motor accidents in the city for many years at 5.30 this evening. They were occupants of an Air Force motor-van which was proceeding from the aerodrome to an evening sports meeting at the Caledonian ground. The van hurtled down over a ramp from Lower Canongate for a distance of 40 feet and came to rest, badly battered, at the foot of the steps near Speight's branch of New Zealand Breweries Limited.
All of the occupants were removed to the Dunedin Hospital, six of them remaining in the institution with more or less serious injuries. The other seven were discharged two hours later.
Following are the injured men in hospital:—Aircraftman, second class, S. Cavanagh, fractured left-leg; Leading-Aircraftman Leslie Keeler, suspected fractured spine; Corporal H. Henning, head injuries; Corporal Ernest Smart, injury to right hip; Pilot-Officer L. D. J. Whatman, slight head injuries; Aircraftman, second class, H. D. Riley, suspected fractured rib.
An Amazing Escape
All of the men had an amazing escape from death or very serious injury. One of the extraordinary features of the accident was that the somersaulting van, in its flight, passed over the head of a man who was walking up the steps leading to Canongate.
The van, driven by Leslie Keeler, was proceeding down Rattray Street, when, it is surmised, some mechanical trouble developed. In normal circumstances it would have continued straight down the street, but the driver, apparently, considered he would have a better opportunity of regaining control by proceeding up lower Canongate. This thoroughfare has a steep grade, and about 30 yards from Rattray Street, there is a sharp bend.
Plunge Through Railings
It was here that the van plunged through the railings of the ramp and hurtled down over the Canongate steps, finishing end up just off the footpath below. It grazed a telegraph pole, smashing a road sign on the pole, and it also carried with it a large portion of the railing of the ramp embedded in its radiator. From where the vehicle left the roadway to the place where it came to rest was a distance of 40ft. and, according to an eye-witness, it somersaulted twice in its flight.
One of the occupants of the van said the driver made a plucky attempt to save his fellow airmen when he made the alarming discovery that something had gone wrong mechanically with the vehicle.
CRASH OF VAN
13 AIRMEN HURT
SIX IN HOSPITAL
SOMERSAULT OVER RAMP
(NZPA) DUNEDIN, Monday
Thirteen members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force who are stationed at the Taieri aerodrome were involved in one of the most sensational motor accidents in the city for many years at 5.30 this evening. They were occupants of an Air Force motor-van which was proceeding from the aerodrome to an evening sports meeting at the Caledonian ground. The van hurtled down over a ramp from Lower Canongate for a distance of 40 feet and came to rest, badly battered, at the foot of the steps near Speight's branch of New Zealand Breweries Limited.
All of the occupants were removed to the Dunedin Hospital, six of them remaining in the institution with more or less serious injuries. The other seven were discharged two hours later.
Following are the injured men in hospital:—Aircraftman, second class, S. Cavanagh, fractured left-leg; Leading-Aircraftman Leslie Keeler, suspected fractured spine; Corporal H. Henning, head injuries; Corporal Ernest Smart, injury to right hip; Pilot-Officer L. D. J. Whatman, slight head injuries; Aircraftman, second class, H. D. Riley, suspected fractured rib.
An Amazing Escape
All of the men had an amazing escape from death or very serious injury. One of the extraordinary features of the accident was that the somersaulting van, in its flight, passed over the head of a man who was walking up the steps leading to Canongate.
The van, driven by Leslie Keeler, was proceeding down Rattray Street, when, it is surmised, some mechanical trouble developed. In normal circumstances it would have continued straight down the street, but the driver, apparently, considered he would have a better opportunity of regaining control by proceeding up lower Canongate. This thoroughfare has a steep grade, and about 30 yards from Rattray Street, there is a sharp bend.
Plunge Through Railings
It was here that the van plunged through the railings of the ramp and hurtled down over the Canongate steps, finishing end up just off the footpath below. It grazed a telegraph pole, smashing a road sign on the pole, and it also carried with it a large portion of the railing of the ramp embedded in its radiator. From where the vehicle left the roadway to the place where it came to rest was a distance of 40ft. and, according to an eye-witness, it somersaulted twice in its flight.
One of the occupants of the van said the driver made a plucky attempt to save his fellow airmen when he made the alarming discovery that something had gone wrong mechanically with the vehicle.
