Zandvlei Trust

Air crash made waves at Muizenberg in 1917.

74 years ago today, bathers waved at an aircraft passing overhead and then watched in horror as it crashed into the surf at Muizenberg.
This extract from The Argus – 9th January 1993 (supplied by Dave and Cynthia Privett) was written by Gerry de Vries.

The Great War was costly in terms of money and material but even more so in human lives lost. England had sacrificed a staggering amount of her finest young men in the trenches, at sea and in the air. So much so that the Royal Air Corps was forced to recruit aspirant pilots in the Colonies. One of the RFC recruiting teams was sent to South Africa in 1917.

Major A M Miller, Lieutenant J Bagshawe, Sergeant A T Way and Corporal E Streeter all members of the RFC arrived by sea in October. They brought with them 2 BE 2e biplanes to be used on a country wide recruiting tour for the RFC. Lieutenant J Bagshawe and Corporal E Streeter formed the advance party to prepare landing fields and advertising the recruiting drive. Major Miller and Sergeant Way followed in one of the aircraft.

The recruiting drive was completed in early 1918 and after some leave Major Miller returned to the war in Europe. The drive resulted in 1274 young South Africans embarking for the troubled shores of Europe. The 2 aircraft remained in Cape Town with Sergeant Way.
Lieutenant A H Gearing of the newly formed Royal Air Force arrived in South Africa on recuperative leave in mid 1918. He being the only RAF pilot fit to fly in South Africa was requested to fly one of the biplanes over Cape Town to advertise a fund raising for the Red Cross. Permission was obtained from the Postal authorities to sell and deliver special aerial postcards for the occasion. They bore the inscription "Make your sixpence fly". And fly they did.

The first flight was planned to coincide with the next military tournament scheduled for the Green Point Cycle Track on the 17th October 1918. The tragic influenza epidemic of that year force the tournament to be cancelled but the flight went ahead. Three bags of cards were flown from a field belonging to a Mr E Young of Wynberg to a safe landing on Green Point Common. The bags were handed to the postal authorities who rushed them to the Cape Town Post Office for mailing in the normal manner.
Lieutenant Gearing flew over Cape Town on the 24th October and "bombed" the city with leaflets on behalf of the Red Cross. The mail flight was repeated on the 26th October and again on the 2nd November, one bag of cards was carried on each flight.

The RAF were ordered to rail one biplane to Pretoria to assist in the threatened "native revolt" in the Transvaal. Lieutenant Gearing and has team left Cape Town by rail on the 4th November. After several military and Red Cross fights they returned to Cape Town for the military tournament at the Rosebank Show Grounds which was rescheduled in December. The BE 2e was seen performing aerobatics over cape Town on 14th December. Although reported as an advertising stunt for the show it was a routine test flight after assembly of the aircraft. Lieutenant Gearing merely used some "poetic licence" after the test flight to have some personal fun. Copies of a specially printed newspaper The Aerial News and more postcards were dropped on the show grounds on the 16th December. Sergeant Way who accompanied Lieutenant Gearing was praised for his accurate bombing.

Mail cards and Christmas greetings were flown from Mr Youngs field to the green Point Common on the 23rd and 30th December. On these two occasions the plane did not land and Sergeant Way attempted to bomb the red post office van parked on the Common. He missed but did force the two post Office officials to take cover. Lieutenant Gearing and Sergeant Way made one last flight on 8th January 1919. The purpose of the flight now seems obscured by what followed. the aircraft named Rio de Janeiro No. 2 (serial No. 3110) was watched by a large crowd of bathers at the Muizenberg Pavilion as it approached at about 5 pm. The crowd were delighted to see the plane sweep low over their heads, and many returned the wave by Sergeant Way. The smiles gave way to gasps as the biplane struck a tall light standard, causing the pilot to lose control of the machine which dived into the surf about 15 meters from the beach. The crowd surged forward and helped the dazed occupants from the wreck. Lieutenant Gearing escaped with a few bruises and a salty dunking. Sergeant Way was less fortunate, he suffered severe facial injuries to the mouth and was taken to the military hospital in Wynberg. The crowd helped the police to remove the wreck from the water to above the high water mark.

Although attempts were made to repair the aircraft it was eventually stripped and scrapped. Although this was not the first aircraft crash in Cape Town, Sergeant Way had the honour of being the first person to be hospitalised in such a crash. the first air crash fatality would not occur until 27th December 1920 at the Green Point Common.

In recognition of South African involvement in the war the British Government resolved to grant South Africa 100 aircraft complete with equipment and spares to form the South African Air Force.

Lieutenant Gearing and Sergeant Way by now recovered from their mishap were selected to fly the second BE 2e from Johannesburg to Roberts Heights in March 1920. On arrival they officially presented the Rio Gallegos Britons (serial No. A 3109) to the newly formed SAAF as the first plane of the 100 promised.