ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 65529
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| Date: | Tuesday 16 December 1941 |
| Time: | c. 14:05 LT |
| Type: | Airspeed Oxford Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 1 SFTS RNZAF |
| Registration: | NZ280 |
| MSN: | 502 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Gebbies Valley, Canterbury -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Birdlings Flat |
| RNZAF Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand |
Airspeed Oxford Mk.I, P2033. Built by Airspeed Ltd, Portsmouth, England. Brought On Charge with Unit No.1, RNZAF Hobsonville on 4 May 1940 and assembled at No.1 Aircraft Depot. To No.1 SFTS, RNZAF Wigram. Issued RNZAF serial NZ280
On 16 December 1941, the Oxford I NZ280 of 1 SFTS took off at 13:55 hours from Birdlings Flat for a transit flight to Wigram. It 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.
Crew and passengers (all killed):
Pilot Officer Alan Leslie Marshall (pilot, age 21, 200 hours solo (103 on Oxford))
L/AC Ronald Stephen Brooker (pupil pilot, age 26)
L/AC Brian Patrick Fitzgerald (pupil pilot, age 19)
L/AC William Ian Lindsay (pupil pilot, age 29)
All three pupil pilots were due for graduation in four days time.
According to the accident report 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 inadvertently misidentified one of 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 when the crash site was visited in the 1980s by two aviation enthusiasts no such tree was growing there that could be seen, probably a victim of the harsh environment on top of an exposed hilltop. The crash site was on eastern side of ridge (probably more correctly south-eastern), just north of the fence line which runs straight up the hillside from beside the Church of the Ascension, along the Gebbies Pass road.
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. A few small parts were found on the crash site, including the rudder mass balance and parts of the controls (probably part of one of the trimming systems). 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 the searchers did find the bits and pieces by feeling them through the turf with their feet. There was also extensive evidence of tilling of the soil in the area which confused them greatly, but turned out (by talking with local farmers) to be the result of wild pigs rooting around. 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.
Sources:
1. http://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/22097/nz280-gebbies-pass
2. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/.au/nz-serials/nzoxford.htm
3. https://wises.co.nz/address/gebbies-pass-road-gebbies-valley
4. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1941/archives/crash-of-an-airspeed-as-10-oxford-in-wigram-afb-4-killed/]
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Jun-2009 16:09 | angels one five | Added |
| 17-Sep-2009 12:36 | angels one five | Updated |
| 09-Jan-2012 01:46 | angels one five | Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Jan-2012 02:56 | angels one five | Updated [Operator] |
| 23-Jan-2014 22:08 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 17-Oct-2014 01:02 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 16-Dec-2015 18:48 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Aug-2017 16:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Feb-2019 15:46 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 05-Feb-2022 05:02 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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