A 12-YEAR-OLD boy, Norman Russell of Brandon Parade, Belfast, was killed instantaneously last evening when a plane crashed in a field near Sydenham. Young Russell had been out catching minnows along with four companions and had been temporarily separated from them when the plane came down.
On hitting the ground it toppled over and the tail struck the boy who was standing close to railings in the field. The machine immediately burst into flames.
Another boy, Ramon Galloway of Brandon Parade, who was along with young Russell, had a narrow escape, being struck by wreckage from the plane and knocked into the water. He received injuries to the arm and was suffering severely from shock. After the crash the other four boys came rushing back home and raised the alarm.
The parents of the unfortunate boy, Mr and Mrs A Russell, had gone to the pictures and had to be summoned home by means of a slide in the cinema.
When they arrived back home there was a lot of confusion as to the whereabouts of the boy.
He had been missing for some time and his mother, sustained by the theories of neighbours that, maybe, he was afraid to come home after the crash, went herself to see the wreckage. However, even at that time, she was unaware that her boy had been killed.
Herbert Lennon, who lives at Brandon Parade, went along with an older brother of Russell's to the scene of the accident and there they were told by a policeman that there was no boy near the plane at the time of the crash.
But they then saw Ronald Maitland who pointed out to the police the spot where the boy was standing at the time the plane came down.
A search of the wreckage followed and the body of the ill-fated youngster was found underneath.
The other boys in the party, who had gone out fishing for minnows, were Brian Johnston, Ramon Galloway, Leonard Watterworth and Ronald Maitland - all of Brandon Parade.
They had gone to a place known as 'The Silver Stream' to fish. It appears that three of the boys had gone further up the stream just before the crash.
The field in which the plane crashed was adjacent to the Holywood Road and was the scene of a fatal air crash just before the war.
US soldier executed for child murder
IT HAS been announced that Private William Harrison, Junior (22) of the US Army, who was sentenced to death at US courtmartial in Cookstown, Co Tyrone last November for the murder of seven-and-a-half year old Patricia Wylie, was executed at Somerset on 7th April. Patricia was the daughter of Mr Patrick Wylie, Killycolpy, Stewartstown, Co Tyrone.
Edited by Eamon Phoenix e.phoenix@irishnews.com