ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 294237
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| Date: | Monday 2 November 1936 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.85 Leopard Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Reginald J.Westaway |
| Registration: | ZS-AET |
| MSN: | 7099 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Cookhouse, Somerset Mountains near Grahamstown -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Johnannesburg, South Africa |
| Grahamestown, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa |
c/no 7099 [C of A 4801 issued 30.4.35 to De Havilland Aircraft of South Africa Pty]. Registered 10.6.35 to Reginald L. Westaway, Grahamestown, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Written off (damaged beyond repair) when crashed 2.11.36; According to the following web page (see link #4):
"D.H.85 Leopard Moth (c/n.7099) ZS-AET. (J.L. Westaway/Grahamestown) - Crashed 2-11-1936
I actually think "J.L. Westaway" is "Reginald J Westaway " and the pilot of this aircraft was William (Bill) H. Pidsley who crashed near Cookhouse, Somerset Mountains near Grahamstown. From "Open Cockpit Over Africa" by Victor Smith (1992)
'I arrived at Grahamstown to find Reg Westaway, owner of the charter company, very upset as he had just heard that Bill, flying from Johannesburg with two passengers, had crashed in the mountains north of Somerset East.
A doctor was loading his gear into Reg's car, with blankets and folding stretcher, as I walked in, and it was suggested that I should go along on the 110-mile drive to see what could be done. We found the remains of the DH Leopard against a hillside and, as invariably happens in this sort of crash, almost at the top. According to the passengers, who were not badly hurt, Bill had descended through a gap in the clouds to find himself trapped in a hollow, with the cloud obscuring the hill-tops.
He had tried to climb out on instruments - with the almost inevitable result. Bill was still unconscious and being cared for by a doctor, at a nearby farm. The doctors recommended that he be taken to hospital in Grahamstown as soon as possible. He never regained consciousness, and died soon after being admitted. Bill was my closest friend after Carson, and I would have been even more distressed if I had known that I was also to lose Carson a few years later, during the war".
Registration ZS-AET belatedly cancelled at census in 7.47.
Sources:
1. "Open Cockpit Over Africa" by Victor Smith (1992)
2. https://www.dehavilland.co.za/DH85_Leopard_Moth.html
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p070.html
4. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/archive/Archive_2009.pdf
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?18694-Trying-to-identify-Capt-Pierre-Nicole-SAAF-12-Sqn-WW2-Incident
6. http://www.maplandia.com/south-africa/eastern-cape/bedford/cookhouse/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Oct-2022 00:33 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
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