Before the Coroner (Mr A. J. Graham), to-day, an inquest was held into the death of Sergt.- Pilot E. N. Corney, whose plane crashed while on a flight from a North Island air station on July 31. Deceased was a son of Mr W. E. Corney, of Ponsonby, Auckland.

Evidence was given by Alexander M. Shere, junr., that while attending to sheep at about 9 a.m. on the morning of July 31 he heard an aeroplane flying overhead. He thought it was flying dangerously low on account of the hilly nature of the country, but could not see it on account of fog. The machine flew away and then returned. He heard the sudden roar of the engine and then the sound of a crash.  After he had secured assistance, the plane was found in a gully with the body in the wreckage. He thought the pilot had not realised he was so close to the hills. The Coroner returned a verdict that deceased was killed in an aeroplane crash during a fog. Sergeant C. McRae represented the police.

MANAWATU STANDARD, VOLUME LXIII, ISSUE 258, 29 SEPTEMBER 1943, PAGE 4