AIRMAN'S MISFORTUNE - Mishap After Landing

HOME-MADE MACHINE DAMAGED
The young Levin airman, Martin Butler, an old pupil of the Hamilton Technical High School after making several successful short flights in his homemade monoplane recently went the way of nearly every other intrepid optimist who has tried to fly his own machine. He came to grief but not until after he had given a most convincing demonstration of the air-worthiness of the plane on which he had lavished two of years of care and ingenuity. It appears evident the mishap was not due to any fault of construction. If error there was in regard to the immediate locality selected for landing, as the machine came to grief in a patch of soft sand. Mr Butler naturally received a shock but fortunately he was not injured and he is at work today.

Over 300 people assembled on the Waitarere Beach to witness the flight. The weather was ideal and the stretch of level beach between the Manawatu River and the Hokio stream affords perfect conditions for taking off and landing, everything was in favour of the successful test.

WITHOUT A HITCH
The machine took the air without a hitch and had soon climbed to nearly 1,000 ft. Remaining aloft for fully 20 minutes, the pilot flew up the beach to the Manawatu River and back twice, taking the turns with ease. On the second return he circles twice above the crowd, showing the machine to be well under control.

After the second circuit Mr. Butler made North again, and when about a mile and a half from Waitarere made what appeared to be a perfect landing. But while the plane was taxiing almost at full speed it encountered a soft patch, and disaster followed. The nose struck the ground, forcing up the under-carriage and causing the plane to tip on its side. The tail swung upwards and the strain thus induced broke the fuselage just behind the cockpit. The end of the wing was damaged and one of the propeller blades was broken.

The crowd rushed along the beach greatly concerned at the unfortunate ending to what was certainly a most successful flight. Mr Butler was found to be uninjured, but was obviously badly shocked by the experience. He was taken back to Levin by car, and a small army of mechanics and members of the Levin aero club had taken a keen interest in the preparations for the flight set to work and dismantled the machine. The engine, a 40 horse-power Ford, was undamaged.

Both it and the rest of the machine have been brought back to Milne's garage, where the aeroplane was constructed.

FATHER AMONGST SPECTATORS
Among the spectators of the flight was Mr. Butler's father, who resides in Wellington Street, Hamilton East. The maker has not carried out a thorough inspection of the damage, but he considers that he will probably repair it. He says that the machine took off well, was easy to control and flew nicely. He took it up to nearly 1,000 ft. and the total distance covered was about 30 miles.