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Corporal lima ,
Aircraft DamcKved
BRISBANE, Friday.— r-Corporal C. W. Langtree,
of the R.A.A.F. appeared before a court martial
today at Archerfield on 10 counts of damaging
four Lincoln aircraft.
T ANGTREE pleaded not guilty
on the 10 counts of wilfully
damaging four Lincoln aircraft
at Amberley aerodrome between
September, 1948, and July, 1949.
Five of the charges were alter
nate charges.
Squadron Leader Cowie, out
lining the case for the prosecu-
. tion, said the first charge re
lated to a Lincoln aircraft
which was discovered damaged
at Amberley.
The damage was inspected by
a warrant officer, who found
that two of three strands of
wire cable had been severed.
Last March, three Lincolns
were found damaged. Certain
instrument panels had been
smashed in one of the planes.
Flight-Lieut. C. C. Wilson
.said Cpl. Langtree had been 'in
charge of a gang working on a
Lincoln on March 24.
He told Mr. McGill (for
Langtree) that he had a verv
high opinion of Langtree, both
as to reliability and trust
worthiness.
Det.-Sgt. B. McNicholl, of the
Brisbane C.I. Branch, said that
on November 2 he said to Lang
tree: "My inquiries lead me to
believe that you know some
thing about the damage to the
plane."
He said Langtree replied: "I
know nothing about the dam
age done. I would not do any
thing like that."
McNicholl said he told Lang
tree he understood that in Sep
tember, 1944, he (Langtree) had
been stationed at Tocumwal,
N.S.W., when damage of a simi
lar nature to that caused at
Amberley had been discovered
in certain aircraft.
The hearing is unfinished.
CPL. C. W. LANGTREE t Help
CPL. C. W. LANGTREE t
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