As shown, there is a slight possibility that it could have got over between the small
gap in the next range, but with the expected descent rate with no power, it would
have not got far.
Is there anything more, that may be able to define it more? I believe there may be....
Years later, Jimmy got to know some of the neighbours that lived further north in
a
place known as “Peach Trees.”
These people had been in Stroud that night at some sort of Club and were on their
way home after closing time, in the rain, (they thought maybe 10.15 to 10.30 pm)
and
were passing a small hill know as Lowreys Hill about 1 km north of Stroud - along
Mill Creek Road, when they both saw a bright fire in the distance. Their first thought
was that their Bush Mill was on fire, but as they drove closer, they lost sight of
the
fire, and were relieved when they got home that it was not their Mill at all, and
no evidence of a fire anywhere else in the area. They reported this fire to the Policeman
that called in on them within the next few days and thought nothing more of it, until
they met Jimmy some years later and heard what he had to say.
On my recent trip over there, I made a point of going to this hill and observing
what
exactly they were likely to see, and if it were possible that it could have coincided
with this area that Jimmy saw the plane fly into.
Using an image off “Street View” on Google Earth, this is what I observed:
It needs to be remembered that it was raining and a moonless night so accurate
pinpointing of a direction would have been rather difficult – if not impossible.
I know you will be thinking, but MDX would have crashed in this area before 8.00
pm, and so there would be no way a fire caused by the crash would still be burning...
especially if it was raining!
This problem really puzzled me for a long time, but
after a lot of thought, there may
be an answer to this...
