The Sentinel=record., 1912-06-12
ARMY LIEUTENANT AND FLYING INSTRUCTOR MEET DEATHAT
 ARMY TRAINING GROUND.
MACHINES WINGS CRUMPLED
Cause of Accident Unknown to Many Officers Who Witnessed the Col lapse--Is Third Army Officer
 to Meet Death.

1 Washington, June II. - Another
 fearful toll was taken by aviation to-
 night when the mutilated bodies of
 Lieutenant Leighton W. Hazlehurst
 Jr., Seventeenth infantry, U. S A.,
 and Alfred L. Welch a professional
 aviator in the employ of the Wright
 brothers, were taken from under the l debris of collapsed aeroplane. The accident occurred while they were at | tempting to make the tests required | by the government in a machine con tracted for by the war department Although an army board was inn mediately appointed to determine tne
 cause of the accident, it is reported
 the real cause of the machines fail ure never will be known. The crash | came so suddenly and unexpectedly | that the two men met their death | without being able to make single
 move to arrest their fall. Seven ar
 my airmen were among the score of spectators, but they cannot explain
 the accident.
 | It was shortly after o'clock that the Wright machine was run out in
 the front of the long line of hangars. For several days Aviator Welch.
 whose home is in this city, had been busy demonstrating the aeroplane. l All of the war departments require
 ments had been met except climb
 of 2,000 feet within ten minutes, car | rying a load of 450 pounds. Welch knew the machine was capable of meeting the test for 1t had been ac- lcomplished- at Dayton, O., sby 0rville
 Wright before it was taken to Col
 lege Park, and he had been made iin-
 patient by several failures.
 I'm going to make that climb to-
 night or know the reason why" he
 said as he began to tune up. I'm
 tired of fooling," he added
 A few minutes later he announced
 he was ready.
 Lieutenant Hazlehurst followed
 Welch into the machine, taking the passengers seat. The aeroplane 1 moved off steadily and flew the length of the field, rising 200 feet. As it
 was turned toward the group of army | officers before the hangars, Welch dipped sharply to indicate to the of | ficial timer that he was ready for the stiff test climb.
 The dip carried the machine to
 within 75 feet of the ground, and it
 then strengthened out sharply, too
 quickly, the observing army flyers | thought Without warning the alum
 mum wings erumpled or collapsed upward so that they almost met abovs l the engine The machine dropped, | then turned her nose toward the
 earth and dived.
 | The accident occurred about 1000 | feet from the hangars and when the | first witness reached the wreck it
 was seen that both of the men were dead. Weleh was buried in the de
 bris but the body of Hazlehurst had
 heen thrown fnlly 20 feet away after
 the machine struck. Welch's clothes
 were practically ali torn from his
 body, which was bruised and batter
 ed. Hazlehursts skull was fractured
 and his head badly disfgured. 1 Death to both of the men probably
 had been instantapeou Their bod
 ies were rushed in army automobiles to the Walter Reed hos pital in this
 city. Five minutes after the flight began the flag over the aviation field
 was at half mast.
 Captain Charles D. F. Chandler commanding the army aviation corps,
 at once convened board of inquiry consisting of seven army officers who
 had been witnesses to the catastrophe A preliminary inquest shed little light on the cause of the tragedy as night | fall made it necessary to postpone the investigation until tomorrow. The officers who are making the in- vestigation are Capt. F. B. Hennessy, 1 Capt. Paul w. Beck, Lieuts Harry Graham, R, c. Kirtland and T. De W. Milling. Lieut.. William c. Sherman of the engineer school, Washington, and Lieut. B. D. Foulois, an army aviator, will be among the important witnesses. As the gathering dusk
 made impossible a careful eXamina tion of the wrecked machine, it was | kept intact tonight in the hope that
 a fuller examination tomorrow might | further reveal the cause of the ae cident.
 Many new features were embodied | in the machine, evolved as a result of Orville Wright's experiments at | Kill Devil Hill, N. C., last summer The Wright brothers always built
 comparatively slow craft. but the | government required that the new machine should make 45 miles an hour In speed trials several days | ago sos miles was attained. It was | estimated it was making about 45
 miles an hour when the fatal plunge
 came. The wings of the craft were
 of aluminium, instead of canvas, but
 in appearance it was much like the y earlier machines. It was narrower