Memorial given due honour

John Landrigan | 17th December 2009

Our disclosure of the sorry state of the Eagle monument spurred action. John Landrigan reports.

Some 60 people, including 20 police officers, gathered in November for a solemn tribute to the people lost in an air disaster over Auckland 16 years ago.

While the nation mourned the 257 people who perished on the slopes of Mt Erebus 30 years ago, and the five Kiwis killed last year at Perpignan, a group gathered in front of a spruced-up memorial at Mechanics Bay to remember the men who died in Auckland's largest air disaster.

Thousands of people heading home from work at 5.30pm on November 26, 1993, saw the police helicopter Eagle collide mid-air with a small traffic-spotting plane.

Both crashed on to the Southern Motorway. Debris was strewn across Symonds St, Karangahape Rd, Upper Queen St and Spaghetti Junction.

Four people died, three in the helicopter and one in the plane: Sergeant Lindsay "Lou'' Grant, 39, Constable Alastair Sampson, 27, of Glenfield; pilot Ross Harvey, 41, of Bucklands Beach and pilot Allan Connors, 28, of Manurewa.

On February 19, The Aucklander revealed Senior Constable Barry Gallagher and Constable Cath Grant's concerns that the memorial had become largely neglected behind two dumpsters near the helicopter headquarters.

Mrs Grant, whose husband Lindsay was a founding member of the helicopter unit, told us the accident was a part of Auckland's history and many "remembered the day the motorway was closed down''.

The bins have now been moved away and the memorial shifted forward to a more prominent position.

Last month's  ceremony was attended by police, air support unit members, and  family and friends of those who died.

Mayor John Banks, who was Police Minister in 1993, remembered a catastrophic event that he says should never be forgotten.

"I remember thinking it could have been me. It was a very sad day.''

Superintendent George Fraser, the district commander for Auckland City, told the mourners: "These were very great men doing very good work who tragically lost their lives early.''

Mr Gallagher saluted those named on the memorial and laid a wreath.

Editor's note: A caption in our printed edition identified the wrong person with a photograph of the memorial service. The person on the right is not Senior Constable Barry Gallagher. It is Police Chaplain Deane Goldsack. The error is regretted.