Date:	Thursday 22 September 1932
Time:	08:00 LT
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Owner/operator:	Wellington Aero Club
Registration:	ZK-ABH
MSN:	1249
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Johnsonville, Wellington 1 -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Levin, Horowhenua District, Manawatū-Whanganui
Destination airport:	Rongotai Airport, Rongotai, Wellington, New Zealand (WLG/NZWN)

Narrative:
c/no 1249: DH.60G [Gipsy I] to Air Survey & Transport Co Ltd, New Zealand with C of A 2542 issued 4.6.30. Registered as ZK-ABH to Wellington Aero Club, Rongotai; delivered 4.11.30. Written off due to Engine failure and crashed Johnsonville, near Wellington 25.10.32;

ZK-ABH was returning to Wellington after attending an Air Pageant held at Levin. The Moth crashed into a house in the Wellington suburb of Johnsonville. It appears that the engine may have failed and a forced landing was being attempted on a roadway about 20 feet (6 meters) wide. According to a contemporary local newspaper report (Evening Post, 22 September 1932, Page 12 - see link #1)

"SMASH INTO HOUSE
MACHINE TAKES FIRE
PILOT BADLY BURNED
ACCIDENT AT JOHNSONVILLE
A serious aeroplane smash occurred at Johnsonville about 8 o'clock this morning, when one of the Wellington Aero Club's Moth machines, in which were two young men, Messrs L F P Taylor and A L de Tourettes, members of the club, crashed into the front of a house in Ballance Street. The force of the impact was considerable. The aeroplane burst into flames and was destroyed. The house also caught fire, but the Johnsonville Volunteer Fire Brigade by good work quickly suppressed the flames.

Mr de Tourettes escaped practically unhurt, but Mr Taylor was badly burned about the body, and he is lying in the Bowen Street Hospital in a serious condition. Mr de Tourettes is a son of Mr A H de Tourettes, of Highland Park, Wadestown, and Mr Taylor is a son of Mr E T Taylor, wine and spirit merchant, who lives in Hataitai.
"Messrs de Tourettes and Taylor were returning from the Levin Aero Club's pageant, which was held yesterday. When the aeroplane was over Johnsonville engine trouble apparently developed and desperate efforts were made to affect a landing, evidently in the schoolground at the top of Ballance Street. Children were playing in the schoolground, however, and realising the grave danger of landing there the pilot, with commendable presence of mind, and evidently as a last resort attempted to land in the roadway which is about 20ft wide. In making this manoeuvre, however, the right wing of the aeroplane struck a power pole outside Mr Robert Turner's residence, bringing down the electric wires into the street. As a result of striking the power pole the aeroplane was slewed round, and, continuing on, crashed nose first into the front of Mr V A Mills's house, next door to Mr Turner's residence.

"The aeroplane went through the wall of an office, constructed at the left-hand end of the verandah, and pushed in the wall of a bedroom, throwing a heavy wardrobe which was up against the wall on to the bed. The bedroom was that of Mr Mills's father, Mr A Mills, who is nearly ninety years of age. Fortunately, he was not in the room, otherwise he probably would have been injured. Simultaneously with the crash the aeroplane took fire and was soon enveloped in flames. When the scene was visited by a "Post" representative shortly after the crash occurred, there was little left of the aeroplane beyond the rudder and tail fins. It was in ruins, with the engine lying on the verandah among black embers, and a scarf, belonging to one of the men, dangling pathetically from the rudder.

The machine was being flown from the back seat by Mr de Tourettes, but when the trouble developed, it is understood that Mr Taylor, the more experienced pilot of the two, took over the controls. Mr de Tourettes was able to climb out of the burning wreckage, but Mr Taylor, with his clothes afire, was extricated by nearby residents, who rushed to the scene immediately on hearing the crash. Taylor was badly burned about the face and legs; in fact, it was practically only the middle part of his body that escaped the flames but, nevertheless, he remained conscious and was able to stand on his feet. He also suffered considerably from shock.

"Mr de Tourettes really had a remarkable escape. He suffered shock, but it was reported that he suffered little physical injury beyond a burn on the face. Both men were taken in a car to the surgery of Dr R Finlay Aitken, which is close to the scene of the smash. They were given attention by Dr Aitken, who had to cut away what remained of the charred sheep-skin flying trousers worn by Mr Taylor, and afterwards both men were brought into town, Mr Taylor being sent to the Bowen Street hospital. Mr de Tourettes was able to go to his home in Wadestown.

"At the time of the crash, the Mills family were having breakfast in a room at the back of the house. Those in the house were Mr and Mrs A Mills, Sen., their two sons, Messrs V A Mills and A Mills, and a Miss Adams, an elderly lady and sister of Mrs Mills, Sen. Miss Adams saw the aeroplane coming over the power lines through a back window, and a second or two afterwards the machine crashed into the front of the house, and soon both the aeroplane, and the corner of the house were in flames.

"The house shook and, thinking it was an earthquake, I grabbed hold of my mother," said Mr V A Mills. No one in the house was injured, although Mr Mills, Sen., suffered from shock. The Volunteer Fire Brigade made a very good save, and Mr V A Mills, talking to "The Post's' representative, expressed very keen appreciation of the brigade's prompt appearance and their services. "I saw the aeroplane through the back window," said Miss Adams, "and the next I knew was the crash and the front of the house was in flames."

"The approach of the aeroplane attracted the attention of a number of the residents, in and near Ballance Street which is in the trough of the valley, a little to the west of the railway line. From all accounts the machine attracted attention because it was flying particularly low and, it was stated, at a relatively slow speed. Although there were a number who saw it about, and sensed that there was some trouble, "The Post's" representative, in the time available, was only able to find one man who said he saw all that happened from the time the aeroplane passed low over his house until the crash occurred. This gentleman's house is on a knoll at the top of Ballance Street and on the other side from Mr Mills's residence. From the verandah of his house, he had a good view of all that happened, and he gave a graphic story of the smash.

"He said he was in his house when he first heard the roar of the aeroplane's engine. Because of the noise it was making he judged that the machine was flying very low, and he rushed out on to his verandah. "The aeroplane was coming from the north-north-east," he continued, "and it passed over the top of the church at a very low altitude, and then over my house. It circled and came back. again, and this time when it was over my house, I could not hear the engine. The machine was in a steep left-hand bank, and the top of the right wing brushed the top of the cabbage trees in my garden. It completed the circle, and was coming up over the road again, when the right wing caught the top of the power pole outside Mr Turner's place. The electric wires came down, and it continued on and crashed into Mr Mills's house. The engine apparently stopped running over the trees in my garden, and evidently the pilot was trying to make a landing."

It appears that when the engine gave trouble, of which there seems to be no doubt, Mr Taylor either tried to land in the recreation ground to the south of Ballance Street or on the schoolground at the top or northern end of Ballauce Street, but judging from the description given of the manoeuvres of the machine it would appear more likely that he was making for the schoolground. As previously explained, there were children playing there, and if such was the case Mr Taylor is deserving of much commendation in endeavouring, as it is presumed, he did, to alight in the roadway. In support of the presumption that this is what Mr Taylor had in mind is the statement made by another Johnsonville resident that he saw one of the men in the machine waving frantically to the children. Mr Taylor apparently put the lives of the children first and his own life and that of Mr de Tourettes second, and took the big risk of endeavouring to come down in the road. His action was that of a gallant gentleman."

Johnsonville is a large suburb in northern Wellington, New Zealand. It is seven kilometres north of the city centre, at the top of the Ngauranga Gorge, on the main route to Porirua (State Highway 1). It is commonly known by locals as "J'ville"

1. Evening Post, 22 September 1932, Page 12: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19320922.2.91.1
2. Thames Star, 22 September 1932, Page 3: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS19320922.2.25
3. King Country Chronicle, 22 September 1932, Page 5: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KCC19320922.2.30
4. Northern Advocate, 22 September 1932, Page 6: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19320922.2.62
5. Manawatu Herald, 22 September 1932, Page 2: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19320922.2.15
6. Wairarapa Daily Times, 22 September 1932, Page 5: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19320922.2.19
7. Photo of crash: https://www.facebook.com/Timespanner/posts/views-of-the-aftermath-of-a-plane-crash-in-johnsonville-smash-into-housemachine-/613971340840229/
8. AHSNZ, 1987, Journal, Vol 30 No 3.
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
10. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-gipsy-moth-johnsonville
11. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
12. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJ6ay1hYmgiXQ==
13. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p012.html
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnsonville,_New_Zealand#Wellington_suburb

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jun-2009 18:40	angels one five	Added
25-Jun-2009 02:20	XLerate	Updated
03-Aug-2011 18:08	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
26-Dec-2011 16:33	angels one five	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Dec-2011 16:46	angels one five	Updated [[Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]]
28-Dec-2011 11:18	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
24-May-2013 02:07	angels one five	Updated [Time, Narrative]
26-Jan-2014 21:36	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
12-Feb-2015 09:13	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
27-Aug-2017 16:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
27-Aug-2017 16:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
20-May-2018 04:58	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
11-May-2020 11:39	Sergey L.	Updated [Source]
27-Sep-2021 09:09	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
23-Jan-2022 03:55	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type]
13-Feb-2022 01:47	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
14-Nov-2023 23:39	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]
23-Nov-2023 17:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]