Air crash inquiry continues
IT SEEMS there was quite a bit of heroism, also skill, following that mid-air collision between a Harvard and a Skymaster over the Bluff in the mid-60s. Paul Sinclair, pilot of the Harvard, stayed with the falling aircraft quite a while as he manoeuvred it away from the built-up area. Archie Naysmith, pilot of the Skymaster, took it out to sea and turned by steering with the engines because he no longer had a rudder. He and his crew made it safely back to Louis Botha airport.
I'm obliged for this information to various people including John Boardman and Vic Stow, of the South African Air Force Association in Durban.
Brian Sim says he remembers the crash as if it were yesterday.
"I was 11 years old at the time, playing in the cul-de-sac where we lived. We looked up at the Harvard just as it crashed into the tail of the Skymaster. I ran inside yelling to my Dad that there had been a plane crash and received a clip around the ear for telling stories - planes didn't crash, especially not in Durban.
"We saw one parachute come down and what seemed like quite a while later the second one. It appeared the pilot of the Harvard was trying to fly the damaged plane to the uninhabited valley in the Bluff rather than allow the plane to land on houses. We hopped on our bicycles and went haring down Bluff Road, saw one parachute draped over the lamp post at the corner of Edwin Swales VC Drive and Bluff Road and the other one up on the lines further up the hill. Somehow we were directed to the crash site on Old Mission Road where the Harvard had landed, all smashed up. Apparently the bowlers playing at the greens had thought it was coming down on them and ran for cover but it landed in a heap uneventfully, not causing any injury.
"The Skymaster had in the meantime gone out to sea and executed a slow turn by powering down one set of engines and boosting the other as he had no tail to turn with. Only when it flew back overhead and my Dad saw the bits flapping in the wind did he realise that I was telling the truth. It didn't undo the 'thick ear' though."
Yes that's life, Brian. Some excitement, not much justice!
Air force types
THESE air force fellows certainly have their moments. I'm glad I was in the navy, where the most exciting thing to happen was when I once rang "full ahead" instead of "full astern" as we were docking in Gordons Bay. But that's another story.
More heroism
BACK to heroism, this time on the rugby field. Recently this column made mention of that epic Currie Cup match in Pretoria when Keith Parkinson (later President of the Natal Rugby Union) completed the game with a broken arm because in those days player replacements weren't allowed.
Now Val Johnson, of Kloof, tells the story of how her husband (at the time fiancé) Ron badly hurt his back while playing centre in a club game at King's Park. They moved him to extra fullback and he finished the match in agony. He then had to sit through a children's birthday party before getting to see a doctor, who cheerily diagnosed a broken back.
"Silly bugger, playing that rough game with a broken back," said the doctor. "All you can do is go to bed and lie still. I'll see you tomorrow". Then he went off fishing. Next day he arranged a board for Ron to lie on for six weeks.
"Once a rugby player, always a rugby player - broken arms and broken backs - no deterrent!" says Valerie.
I once played in a club game in which our entire side were under the most severe physical handicap. We'd all been to a wedding in the morning.
Can you imagine playing rugby under such conditions? Yet we ran rings round the opposition. Our beer fumes killed them in the scrums.
But maybe this isn't quite the same kind of heroism.
Tailpiece
MY TWO UNCLES bet on who would get married first. Then one upped the ante.
Last word
The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it.
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