The worst accident that has ever befallen a British commercial
aeroplane occurred on Christmas Eve near Purley. One of the Imperial Airways' big De Havilland biplanes was starting for Paris, but it had only been a minute or so in the air when it suddenly nose-dived, crashed on to Castle Hill, and was burnt to a cinder, The pilot and all the eight passengers were killed—it is thought instantaneously. We may never know the cause of this terrible accident, although an inquiry is to be undertaken by the Air Ministry. All the evidence points to the fact that the machine was in perfect order. The pilot was an experienced officer and thoroughly fit when he left the aerodrome. We hope that the accident will not have a detrimental effect on commercial flying. Flying is not, of course, as safe yet as railway travelling, but it must be remembered that this is the first fatal accident which has occurred to a British cross-Channel air liner since April, 1921. The machine which crashed was only seven months old, and had in that time carried 10,000 passengers and 600 tons of freight for a flying distance of 7.50,000 miles.
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