Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Saturday 10 February 1951, page 3


Passenger's Story Of Crash

PERTH. Feb. 9.

The story of incidents be-fore the Amana crashed on June 26, as told by Edgar William Forwood, of SA.

who survived the crash for a few days, was recounted at the Air Court of Enquiry today. Mr. Forwood was the only passenger alive after the dis-aster and he told his story to Inspector A. J. Blight, of the CIB while in the Royal Perth Hospital before his death. Inspector Blight gave evi-dence to the court today. Mr. Forwood told the inspec-tor that "everything happened so quickly." After the plane had been in the air for a short period, Mr. Forwood felt the plane drop. He said he had winked at a woman passenger to show that he had also felt it, but the woman was very white. 'I thought my heart had gone wrong,' he had said. He told Inspector Blight that no warning was given to the passengers to refasten their safety belts. After he had been thrown out, he said he heard "groans and screams" but he could not get near the plane because it was on fire. Mr. Forwood told the witness that he saw no fire before the plane crashed. "Terrifying Noise" Francis John McNamara, of York, who was living in a cot-tage on Berrybrow Farm with his two sons at the time of the crash, said that the noise of the engines as the plane passed over his property was terrify-ing. Frederick Martin, superinten-dent of airports for the Depart-ment of Civil Aviation in the western area, made a survey of the scene of the crash and said that it appeared from the marks on the trees as though the plane went through them at an angle of 15 deg. and that the port wing might have been lower than the starboard wing. Mr. L. D. Seaton, KC, who with Mr. B. Simpson is assist-ing the court in the enquiry, asked for and was granted an adjournment until Monday. "Earlier Trouble" Mr. Seaton said that he was going to call one passenger who travelled on the Amana from the eastern States to Perth on the last full flight and who would say that the trouble experienced on that flight was ''more considerable" than would have been believed from the pilot's report. Mr. G. A. Pape (for ANA) said that in view of the in-formation given by Mr. Seaton he would have to call not only tbe pilot of the plane on the last western journey, but also members of the crew and perhaps the hostesses to give evidence of what they considered of the trip. During the first four days of the enquiry 34 witnesses have been heard and about 280 foolscap sheets of typescript of evidence have been written. The cost of the enquiry is estimated at more than £500 daily.