Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 October 1937 — Page 10
PAGE 10
DROVE AIR LINER INTO MOUNTAIN
Line Official Says 70-Mile Wind Battered Plane Off Course.
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 22 (VU. P.).—The crash of the United Air Lines “"Mainliner” Sunday night was attributed today to a sudden squall which battered the big transport with a 70-mile wind, causing it to drift 17 miles south of its course and strike a mountainside. Maj. R. W. Schroeder, company operations. manager, said the storm | swirled in the upper atmosphere] and could not have been forecast from the ground. It probably put | the pilot's radio out of commission, | he said, and Pilot Earl Woodgerd | did not know that he was off his! course. The plane's recording barograph, retrieved from the wreckage, showed that Pilot Woodgerd took the plane | to 10.000 feet immediately after tak- | ing off from Chevenne, Wyo,, a regular stop on the transcontinental | flight, and that he held that alti-| tude until the crash. Had he been | on the regular course. that would have given him a 2000-foot clear- | ance above the mountains. The reg- | ular route is through a pass in the Uinta mountain range. To the south, the peaks jut up higher “Evidence indicates that the plane | collided with the higher terram ap- | proximately 17 miles south of the | regular course, while in normal fly- | img position, at normal cruising speed, and heading toward the scheduled designation, showing that | the plane was functioning properly,” Maj. Schroeder said. | The plane left Cheyenne at 5:26 n,m. and weather reports at the time were favorable, he said. Ceil- | ings of 2000 to 6000 feet and Vvisibility of 15 to 30 miles were reported from various stations in the Vi-| cinity. |
Static Believed Cause |
Of December Crash
| WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (U. P.).—| Local static conditions which rendered radio receiving beam appa- | yatus inoperative were cited today by the Bureau of Air Commerce Accident Board as the probable cause of the crash of a Western Air Express | liner near Salt Lake City, Utah, last | Dec. 15 with the death of seven per- | sons he investigators concluded that Pilot S. J. Samson was unable 10 pick up the Salt Lake City beam and continued along the Milford beam into a mountain peak. | There was no hint in the report! that the investigators considered | Samson in any way responsible, The Board noted that the pilot had been flying blind with permis- | sion before the crasn, but had later | reported being able to see the Black | Rock beacon. It reported that he | had failed to make a routine posi- | tion report 19 minutes before ihe | time fixed for the crash but found “nothing unusual about this.” | That both beam receivers in the plane may have failed was advanced as a possible alternative explanation The crash and weathering had so | destroyed the plane and equipment | that there was little of value to inspectors in determining the cause. | The plane and the bodies of three | crew members and four passengers | were not found until July 21—more than seven months after the acciaent
BUS FEEDER SERVICE | INCREASE 1S STUDIED
dunt |
The Tndiana Public Service Com- | mission today considered a prop-| erty owners’ petition asking Indian- | apolis Railways, Inec., to increase | service on the Brightwood feeder bus line On Sept. 10, the utility was] authorized to treble the mileage | on this route. At a public hearing yesterday | some protested the service, while | others, now being served by the new | line, said they were satisfied. | Testimony showed that before the | line was enlarged busses passed at 10-minute intervals. Now one passes! every 20 minutes.
LINCOLN MOTOR AID | TO TALK AT PREVIEW
A. 'C. Steger, Lincoln Motor Car Indianapolis branch division man-'| ager, was to speak at a preview today for the 1938 Lincoln-Zephyr V-12. Other speakers were to be G. A. | Wilson, branch wholesale supervisor, | and BE. E. Carmichael, branch re-| tail supervisor. Ce | | |
OSTEOPATHS NAME PRINCETON DOCTOR
Dr. C. Allen Brink, Princeton, today had been ‘elected Indiana | Osteopathic Assoeiation president. | Other officers are Dr. Kate Wil-| liams, Indianapolis, re-elected treas- | urer; Dr. T. K. Arbuthnot, Richmond, president-elect, and Dr. Fred L. Swope, Richmond, secretary.
$2000 THEFT REPORTED CAMBRIDGE, Mass, Oct. 22 (U. P.). — Baggage ‘containing furs. clothing and jewelry valued at $2000 was stolen last night from a parked automobile of freinds Visiting a Harvard professor.
I 3 2
Leading pack horses in a slow struggle through heavy snow up |
this ironically beautiful peak of the Uinta Mountains in northeastern Utah, the party which brought back the bodies of the 19 victims is
shown above, nearing the wieck
of the ill-fated transcontinental
“Mainliner.” Position of the wrecked plane, marked by arrow, shows
that the liner failed to clear the jagged Peak by only 100 feet, while
ACTION ON DALHOVER SET FOR HAMMOND
U. S. to Present Evidence on Bank Theft Charge.
22. —The
WASHINGTON, Oct.
Justice Department today an-
| |
eral Bank robbery statute violation |
by James Dalhover, Brady gang survivor, will be presented to a Federal Grand Jury at Hammond, Ind. next week. Assistant Attorney General Brien
McMahon said no decision has been | made by the Justice Department | Whether Dalhover will be tried first {on Federal charges or on charges preferred by the State of Indiana. |
The Government will base its evi-
| dence on the alleged slaying of In-
diana State Policeman Paul Minne-
nounced that evidence of the Fed- | man by the Brady gang as it
5
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miles off its route
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
DECIDES STORM Grandeur and Death Greet Pack Train at Crash Scene
IR,
2 A 3
just 300 feet to the right is a gap in the picturesque range through which the liner could have passed safely.
The plane was about 17
The bodies, wrapped in oilcloth, were placed on litters and roped
to the pack horses. The party
then trekked back five miles over
treacherous mountain trails, and placed the bodies in trucks which could
get no closer to the crash scene.
escaped from a Goodland Ind.) | Dank robbery.
The robbery was a Federal of-| fense since the bank is insured by |
| the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The indictments will be sought under a Federal law providing a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum penalty of death upon the recommendation of the jury. Mr. McMahon said he had asked
U. S. District Attorney James Flem- |
ing of the Norther District of In- { diana to present the evidenceg before the Grand Jury,
OC eto \@
aghett, farily: de’
{ was to receive $300.
SISTER FILES SUIT CHALLENGING WILL
| A suit to break the will of Miss | Mary E. Dailey, who died Sept. 12, | had been filed today in Superior Court 3 by her sister Mrs. Nora Wills. Under terms of the will more than $8000 in addition to real estate was left churches, charitable insti- | tutions and friends. According to { the will, made Aug. 6. Mrs, Wills
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