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SEVEN KILLED IN CIVIL AIR CRASH NEAR LAE
LAE, Monday.
All seven persons on board were killed
when a Qantas Drover plane crashed into the
sea during heavy rain near Lae to-day.
The killed included two women and two
American Roman Catholic priests.
Bodies of one woman and one priest have
been recovered. Rescue boats are searching  
for the other bodies.
List of Killed
SYDNEY, Monday.
Qantas officials in Sydney
to-night said those aboard
the crashed aircraft were:—
Captain of the aircraft: 1st
Officer John Wm. Spears,
Lidcombe, Sydney.
Passengers
Kenneth Charlie McDonald,
Ashfield, Sydney.
Miss Helen Connor, Yowie
Bay, Sydney.
Miss Fancis Tindal, Collah,
N.S.W.
Mr. James Palmer, Korrum-
burra, Vic.
Father Bochas, the Roman
Catholic Mission, Lae.
Bishop Apelhans, the Ro-
man Catholic Mission, Ma-
dang.
The officials said that next
of kin of the passengers had
been notified.
The aircraft was piloted by
First Officer John William Spears
of Lidcombe, Sydney, who won
the D.F.C. while with Bomber
Command in Britain during the
war.
The plane was en route from
Wau to Lae when it crashed.
Last message from the aircraft
asked about the weather. Lae
air traffic control replied,
"Weather poor, with steady, mod-
erate rain, but aerodrome still
open."
First Officer Spears then told
the air traffic control tower he
was within five minutes flying of
the drome.
When the Drover failed to come
within the aerodrome circuit in
the next 10 minutes an immedi-
ate air and sea search was made.
A Douglas aircraft found
wreckage of the Drover four and
a half miles from Lae and three-
quarters of a mile from the shore.
The Drover was then lying in
54ft. of water.
A crash boat and trawler went
out. Rescuers found the bodies
of one of the two women and Dr.
Apelhans.
Searchers picked up one wheel
and leg torn from the fuselage,
and a bag of mail.
The two priests had been to
Wau to consecrate a new church
there. Dr. Apelhans was Bishop
of Madang.
Qantas Empire Airways oper-
ated the Drover on its inter-
island services. The Drover is
a three-engined craft of Austra-
lian design.
It was built at the De Havil-
land Co's Bankstown factory,
and was one of the four ordered
by Qantas to replace its old
Dragon, biplanes.
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