New-York tribune., 1918-09-17
Clothespole in Way
OF plane Kills Two
Fliers in Flatbush
Army Aviators Attempt to
Alight in Yard After En-
gine Stops Dead
By BRIGGS

An army airplane, which had thrilled
the Flatbush section of Brooklyn with
man@uvres, conducted at daringly low
attitudes, fell into Mrs. Henry d.
Lofts backyard, at 59l Ocean Avenue,
yestc rday morning, and was impaled
on clothespolc. crushing its two oc-
cupants to death. They were Second
Lieutenant Eugene H. Austin, 1865
E Street, S. W., Washington, and Sec
ond Lieutenant Charles L. Kinney, jr,
of Atoka, Tenn. Both were members
OF the 352d Aero Squadron, at Mineola
and their trip was a part of their
training in Gross country flying.
But such flying as the two officers
lndulged in had never before been
seen in Flatbush, which long since
ceased to crane its neck at the remote
throb of airplane motors 1t was about
S:30 that the machine first appeared,
and its antics made hundreds of pupils
report "tardy' at Erasmus Hall High
School, caused knots OF people to
gather in the street and follow the
low-nylng plane from one block to
another and filled windows with watch
crs.
Only 400 Feet From Ground
Barely 400 feet from the ground at
any time, the widespread plane, a
Curhss }. n. H. 1-bomber, swooped
so low at times that the watchers fan
cied that the trees shivered in the
wind OF its passage. It wheeled and
dO0Upd ba toI, of
80 low an altitude that ii seemed as
though slight miscalculation by the
pilot would dash it against cornice
or stick its nose through window
The remarkable exhibition was cut
short when the Hispano Suiza's steady
roll gave way to an erratic popping
Tie engine was missing, as several
motorists in the streets below noticed,
and the arplane swooped to a safe
landing on the Prospect Park parade
ground, first looping and spinning
madly IN spite of the failing engine.
Machine Lands Second Time
After brief job of tinkering by the
two officers the biplane took the air
again. 1t climbed sluggishly. however,
and its engine still protested that
something was wrong After brief
hight. which threatened once or twice
to end in an abrupt nose dive from a
height of only few hundred feet,
the machine circled back and landed
again on the parade ground.
1t was about 9:3Q when they started
again. The machine climbed only a
short distance, when its engine gave
obvious signs of quitting completely.
The officers drove across the left wing
of the high school, missing the roof
~.
of the spectators emulated the balky
motor. Then they started down on a
long slant, their engine dead.
Apparently the pilot was heading for
the open ground surrounding Mrs.
Lofts home, which extends clear
through to Twenty-hrst Street in the
rear. He crossed Flatbush Avenue lust
above the housetops and cut between
the chimneys OF the Dutch Reformed
Church parsonage as neatly as a
hockey puck between the goal posts,
seeming to the spectators to skim the
root with his landing gear. With a
quick half turn the plane headed for
the space behind Mrs. Lofts house,
coming down stecply over an extens on
in the rear
Clothespole in the Way
Many thought that safe though
violent landing would have been ef
fected but for the clothespole, which
lmpaled the machine like a dragon
fly on pin and brought it crashing,
nose down. to earth. To some il
looked as though the aviators had at
tempted d tail spin or had been forced
INTO one aud the tail had wrapped it.
self around the clothespCle.
Mrs. Lott, one of the few residents
Of the vicinity who had not been watch
'ng the airplane. was startled by the
crash under her kitchen windows. One
glance at the wreckage and she came
running out with an axe. Fireman
Michael j. Nolan, of Engine 279, who
was passing, took 1T from her hand and
chopped loose the bodies of Lieuten-
ants Kinney and AUSTIN