Hastings

The crew was engaged in a night training mission when he encountered some engine problems according to eyewitnesses. The four engine bomber went out of control, dove into the ground and crashed in a huge explosion in a field located some 10 km south of Hastings. All nine crew members were killed.

The pilot and owner Hamish F. Armstrong was performing a flight from his farm in Akitio to Hastings. En route, he encountered poor weather conditions and low visibility, and the aircraft diverted from the prescribed flight path to the northwest. While cruising, the single engine aircraft impacted a hillside in the forest of Ruahine, near Wakarara. The wreckage was found two weeks later at an altitude of 1,200 metres, some 30 metres below the summit. No trace of the pilot was ever found. Injured, he probably walked away to find help but he did not have the appropriate clothes against the low temperature and did not have any food as well.

The aircraft departed Gisborne at 1245LT bound for Hastings, carrying two passengers, one pilot and several mail bags. While cruising over the area of Wairoa, the pilot drop a mail bag when the aircraft stalled and crashed onto the side of a road. All three occupants were killed. It appears the aircraft stalled while the pilot was trying to gain altitude after dropping the mail bag.
Crew:
Ivan Louis Kight.
Passengers:
Walter Findlay,
Mr. W.C. Strand.