Bomber Force Landed in Spreydon Back Yard

[Dave Homewood]

Does anyone know what this aircraft was, from the PRESS, 30 APRIL 1940?

FORCED LANDING IN SUBURB

Air Force Machine Damaged

DESCENT IN SPREYDON

A machine from the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram was extensively damaged late yesterday morning in a forced landing in Spreydon, near Barrington Park. The pilot, Leading Aircraftsman R. H. Clifford, of Christchurch, received slight abrasions, and the passenger, Leading Aircraftsman J. B. Courtis, had an arm injured.

The pilot was attempting to make a landing on Barrington Park, but failed to reach it by a few yards. The official version of the mishap is that the machine was out on a preliminary bombing practice. Although the cause is not yet known, it became necessary to carry out a forced landing on the nearest available area, no suitable landing ground being handy. The machine fell in a section at the back of a house on Simeon street. Spreydon.

A horse was killed, and the wings, under-carriage and propeller of the machine extensively damaged. The pilot and passenger recovered quickly from the shock. The aeroplane will be salvaged and taken to Wigram, and a Court of Inquiry will sit soon to establish the cause of the mishap.

When attempting to make the landing the pilot found a belt of poplar trees too high an obstruction to clear. He turned the aeroplane and brought it down in an empty section between Simeon street and Barrington street, 'finishing up only 50 yards from the park. The horse was in the section and was killed instantly when it was struck by the starboard wing. The forced landing attracted a very big crowd, and a St. John ambulance, soon on the scene, was able to give help to the two men from the machine.

[Dave Homewood]

Ah, to answer my own question, going by the date it must have been Fairey Gordon NZ602. NZDF Serials says NZ602 was "With No.1 SFTS, Wigram January 1940-May 1942. Coded "13". Force landed in Christchurch on 29 April 1940 damaging the wing, propellor and undercarriage. Returned to Wigram and repaired. Reduced to spares at Wigram in August 1942."

[Dave Homewood]

Wigram seems to have had a load of Gordon accidents at this time!

[davidd]

That's because Wigram had a load of Fairey Gordons! The RNZAF was a bit unusual at this time, because the single-engine (SE) components of the two existing Flying Training Schools (Nos. 1 and 2, at Wigram and Woodbourne/Blenheim respectively) were equipped with different aircraft types, Gordon, and Vincent/Vildebeest. When No. 3 FTS commenced forming up at Ohakea in October 1940, its SE component was equipped with a third aircraft type, the Hawker Hind. Note, none of these aircraft had been designed as trainers, but their presence in NZ enabled the RNZAF to start up advanced training almost immediately on arrival, as no other suitable aircraft were available. Each school had about thirty single-engine service aircraft, and as further Oxford twin-engine trainers were also arriving at the same time, it was hoped to build up the multi-engine component of each school to about 42 aircraft. Each school therefore possessed about 70 aircraft, divided between the Intermediate and Advanced Training Squadrons which made up each school. This also roughly matched what the RAF wanted in the way of trained pilots, some three multi-engine pilots to every two single-engine pilots, reflecting the size and importance of Bomber and Coastal Commands versus the smaller Fighter Command and the overseas commands.
Incidentally I was a member of my school rugby team (probably Form 2) which played a match on Barrington Park (probably in 1964). It was this park which the pilot of NZ602 had to land on, as it was mostly housing everywhere else. The Park is still there, pretty much in its original form I think, although the trees which partially surround it would be considerably higher (if they were even there in 1940), I think the ones along Barrington Street side were Horse chestnuts!

[Dave Homewood]

It's really interesting to think, if there were 70 aircraft, and they were churning through two courses of around 25 to 30 trainees at any given time, there would have been a lot of people making up a school and the units that supported it - flying instructors, ground instructors, administrators, riggers, fitters, armourers, parachute packers, electricians, wireless mechanics, cooks, mess hands, medics, accounts, equipment assistants, fabric workers, metal workers, drivers, aircrafthands, disciplinarians, and sundry other trades.

There must have been several hundred skilled staff per school, just as with any operational squadron or servicing unit, only these schools had four to five times the number of aeroplanes that the average squadron operated. An amazing amount of logistics behind the scenes. Did the different squadrons at the schools, i.e. the Intermediate and the Advanced, have their own separate maintenance teams? Were they divided like the flying side?Or were all the aircraft in one big maintenance pool?

[Dave Homewood]

A related photospread to the discussion of the activities of the Flying Training School at Wigram:




TRAINING MEN FOR THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE AT WIGRAM.—This series of photographs illustrating various aspects of the training given members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force at Wigram was specially taken for “The Press” under the supervision of the Commanding Officer, Wing Commander G.S. Hodson. (1) Experience of air navigation is gained in the air in the latest type of machine. (2) Aircraft crews must be thoroughly familiar with the use of a parachute. (3) Aerial photography, plays an important part in reconnaissance work. (4) Navigational trainees confer before beginning a flight. (5) A camera gun as used for practice by machine-gunners. (6) In a high-speed machine the gunner is protected by a closed-in cockpit. (7) Fitting Practice bombs in racks under a bomber. (8) With full equipment. An observer goes out to his machine. (9) Wireless personnel assist in bombing training. (10) Full weather service is vital to pilots. In the meteorological office (11) All machines are constantly being inspected by mechanics before and after flights.
PRESS, 31 OCTOBER 1939