File:Edward Hotchkiss (1884-1912) accident report in The Guardian on 12 September 1912.jpg

Theory Of The Flying Disaster. Government Inquiries Suggested. The Observer's Log. The Coroner for Central Oxfordshire (Mr. Franklin) held at Wolvercote jester-jv an inquiry into the flying" disaster on ue'dav, when Second Lieutenant Hotchkiss Di Lieutenant C. A. Bettington, Special eserre Koval Flying Corps, were killed on lieir way from Salisbury Plain to Cambridge-hire for the manoeuvres. The log jotted ' bv Air. Bettington during the flight was reduced. It was carried apparently up to he very moment of the disaster, and ran as ollows: Tuesday, 10912. Leg or No. 263 Bristol so norse-power mono- Pilot: Lieutenant Hotchkiss. Observer:. imtanant C. A. Bettington. t..- ind at Larkhill 7h. Zimin. a.m. rcled'park shed going N.N.E. at 7 6 a.m. ed Avon at 7 8, wnere trncn cioua over- ..'05- -eaerally haay, wind trom rv.Ki.w., . --i -I T- 5 i .ea-:V- about lb mues an uuur. jraaacu. lo l!es XAV. of Tidworth at 7 13. Altitude about jfA ieet (estimated), observer having no baro-Kii: Over river at Burbage at 7 26, about .K0 feet. Very cold. Headed for Hungerford ilor'gside river. Passed .over Hungerford, werlr.g for Oxford, 7 32 a.m., at 2,000 feet. Sun nn apr-earirg through clouds; very coldl 'Tossed railway west of lambourn at 7 41. V'liile following road from Hungerford to Oxford, about 2,000 feet, passed half a mile of Wantage at 7 53 a.m. Going rnased railway at 7 58. Eight a.m. very hazy i. round, 2,000 feet. Machine very steady. Red and white cattle (?) observed' in field near ,wr.at A?pefcon, nearly 2,000 feet. Osford p:'cied up at 8 8 a.m. about five miles iahead -.hrcugh the haze. Struck rain at 8 13 over 0 iiord, very 'Entry breaks off with something indeeipher-tl-le, ar-par-ently beginning with an " h," as !hoa?h the observer had meant to write "hazy" r. possibly "heavy." The only theory advanced at the inquest iras that something went wrong with one of the wings. A metal band or strap, wnich ras picked up about 200 yards from the xreckage, might . have belonged to this machine, though it was not positively identi-ned. If this got loose before it broke off it might Lave torn the canvas of the wing, and the force of the wind might then have burst the canvas. The jury expressed the opinion that there should be a Government inquiry into every aviation disaster, just as there is into every rajlivay accident or shipping disaster. Captain Allen, who was the first witness, said i-.was in the Welsh Regiment, but was at pre-p.V. on duty with the Royal Flying Corps. Hoxhkiss was about 28, and Bettington, who was late of the Royal Artillery, was about 30. The witness had instructions to take four machines on Tuesday from Larkhill Camp, Salisbury Plain, to Hardwick, Cambridge, for the scir.ceuvres. He left in one, Lieutenant Hotchkiss and Lieutenant Bettington in another. The machine on which they left was a new iMsm Bristol monoplane, 80 h.p. engine. It h3d been flying from 15th July, and it had '.ikin part in the recent military aeroplane t.ovc-ments. Descriptions of the Fall. The Coroner : Had these officers had experience, in flying? Yes. Hotchkiss had been previously instructor of the Bristol Company, a:;u he had been flying every day. He taught me, amongst others; also Mr. Bettington. He was an absolute expert. Bettington had taken his certificate at the end of July, and was also a s'.iilful flier. I started from Larkhill Camp at 5 50 yesterday morning, after inspecting the o:her machines, which were in perfect order. I descended in this neighbourhood at Cuni-nora I drove to Oxford to send a telegram. While I was driving I 6aw an aeroplane living ap.oiuteiy steadily. At about 2,000 feet it Circlod siightly to get its head to the wind, and ! leSC-Cna tO about. 30il ft. ri n A T tn.. 1 , o . , , . , '. mwu awow ',,,Vi,, IVf Z j uui, 11 appeareu an aocu.iueiy perfect descent, and I wn nuit.e ijiisjed that they had got down safely. It was onlv when I was sending off telegrams at ".wu chuuu mat a was xoia ot the accident. Aseii for his theory as to the cause of" the ardent, Captain Allen said he could only give n?;;ive ideas. "You may eliminate the wind, he said. "It was absolutely steady. i:.cn Hotchkiss was an extremely capable ruo;. He had been practising on that par-ti.-uiar machine the previous week, and the day oiiore he told me he was absolutely conri-oenv he could take cross-country flights on ?'i:v-' .For upwards of a year Hotchkiss had i'a flying and testing new machines. . The i:er ship of this one recently flew in a full li' 47 rails an hour, and came down ab-sjUitelv unstrained and undamaged. ' 1 ,- T 1.' x n 1 1 . - i- j-. uu. a leweiier. or iivtrri v?v,r was riding on Port Meadow when the accident f'yol I wi-.aout giving any indication that there wai Ml' !rAnlilo "At U., inn . . , . ' any trouble. "At about 400 feet it planed at . ----- -o i""" . '" ever aeeu oeiore. '"I i S'lW the nsht win" cnimnlo machine fall to the sround." " 4 " iJUro,What was Jhe object that fell? It is impossible to. say whether it was a man, but 'laiian j6Cf ?f k-ind- Th machine -etined to overtake it again, and it all fpll rcyetaer. The witness added that the pilot appeared to have overshot his mark, and in 0,-pamng too steeply to avoid trees and a Mnk the wmg crumpled up. -95 't110? witoSS s.a'inS that the machine turned right over, a juror remarked that he had witnessed the fall, and he had not seent turn over Neither had several other juTymen who saw tne accident. J J George Goatley, a boat builder of Binv who was watching the aeroplane through his pwses. said it seemed to him to explode and a:: burn up. .Something big fell ouPt then a I o small things. Tne witness afterwards :o-,nd a steel strap part of an mto552 ac-out 200' yards from the wreckage. P Captain Allen,, on being shown, this hand d h? did not think it was part of the bS oplane, although it was part of an The log-book was found about 530 vards from Uie wreckage, and was handed to h police by the -witness, who found it ponce Charles Cross, a carrier, of" Wolvercote said Sn..nedt '(he ." T r- j. , -""""'s arouna his waist. ThA niaohin did not turn round in the air. -It fell iad. and there was a snnnrf .rleu a sound lilrn Oi:ig off. a cannon Dr. J. W. Seymour, of Oxford h- s;ot to the. soot T.iev.tanVrZ' riSi- . wnen ; no: been found. It was th fiitrJ ;"Dgion aaa j :.e-met which made them look for Vy," I 6 haWn' to L S?.' ... ue must r-s antaneous. Tne doctor went r. -s wne watched the fall nH , i enainly swun" about before "it Vll h aeJPlan6 j aa down- A Theory of the Cause. Mr Phillips, consultinc Eri:i?Vi nnq . PAinmi a-o--i i makers and patentees of Z ZLJ1 patentees ot the Bristr.1 m 1 save technical evidence. He had seen ihi, 7,3 : utuiar macnine in course of erection td course of testing. Its trials were satisfactory. The witness had viewed the wreckage of Je machine. As to the cauee of the aooidonf was very difficult to form an opinion EverV wnig had been smashed up, and it was very "fcVf4- dlstmuii;l1 between cause and -an you offer any. tlieory ? No. . fonnd, the witness thought, might'be part of A band: 10-1 cd. .unuc, uu viiiu alumni. Danas- were Does the finding of this band 200 yards away celp you in any way? It might have been torn miolit -Ko.,. 1 . . -- . j "j " ""c.- Aa. uttii ijrn nh striklhg a tree when they were making ihe Coroner: It was found in the open. i he Witness: From the speed of the machine would carry it some distance. The iron band . flEORY ff'ara- K- rimw tnH 7Z, aDSOiutfiy. hormai an extended grammar school training, and thus greatly ff.jnae.. uy ariver told me it would be going I , . .i. , . . . party ij acead at Port MsnHmv Ai.n,. ? "5 fwhen they enter the technical school their . ; was connected wi,t-h the wing spar, but it did not suppou.the wing.: It was connected with the wing by wire. Supposing it became unfastened, would it cause the accident ? Supposing it was drawn m - l Possible it might hit the wing. Would it loosen the wire? Yes. It would "otwrterfeTe with the-wing. All it could do, if did loosen, would be to hit the wing. .. . . Lieutenant de Havilland, of the Royal Flying Corps Reserve, spoke - as an expert of great experience of all kinds of flying machines. He said he was connected with the Royal Aircraft factory. The damage to'lhe machine was so considerable that it did pot help him much in lorming an opinion as to what might have RfPPfa- Asked as to his theory, lie said something must have .hapoened" to the wire of the wings.. This seemed obvious from the find-ln,oftnis piece of wire. '. xne Ujroner : How: have you formed that conclusion .The wires that are attached to it do not have much to do with the support of the J? mew but,if this band was hanging' loose; as it must have been before it broke off, this piece may nave slipped back under the wings and torn, the canvas. It is just possible that the ?JjTu of. wind getting inside the plane would burst the canvas and split it, though the wing framework may riot have collapsed. The noises spoken of might be attributed to the bursting of the canvas. A piece of wood, also picked up on the meadow, was the edge of the wing frame, and might have been hit by the Vi.- was Possible that the officers found something was wrong and "intended coming down: It was a reasonable theory that when they Jiad planed down to 400 feet the canvas ot one of the wings burst. Such an accident would make the machine drop like a stone. . A juror pointed out that the band, or piece of lTon, had been screwed and not bolted on to the machine, and asked if it would not have been safer if it had been bolted. The witness replied that it would have made no difference. The wires at either end pulled it with equal pressure. It looked as if one of the taste ners at one end or the other must have come adrift. . The steel band which was thus associated with the accident is a curved band about two feet long and an inch broad. , The Jury's Opinion. The foreman of the jury, in returning a verdict of accidentally killed "as the result of some injury to the monoplane," said the jury wished to pay a tribute to the bravery of the men in the army who to-day were facing death at the hands of the elements as .bravely as . ever British soldiers faced it on the battlefield. He believed that if a thousand men were to be killed there would be ten thousand ready to take their places. In aviation they perceived a very great danger to tho public. An aeroplane might crash through that house at that moment, and in the interests of the public the jury thought there ought to be a government inquiry into every aviation disaster just'as there was in the case of every railway accident and shipping disaster. "I, am desired." said the foreman, "hv ih jury to add that this opinion should be represented to His Maiestv's 0!rivrnTnp-nt Tho iin-u- also wish to express their sympathy with the iciduvca ui iiie aeceaseu.

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