New-York tribune., 1919-07-31
Former Soldiers Tell House
Investigators of ''Million-
Dollar Bonfire in june
at French Flying Field
Shipping Tags on Same
Congressman Hints at Plot
to Lessen Competition
for American Factories

States army airplanes, many Of them
new and unused, in "1nillion dollar
bonfire" at Coiomb les Bellies, was
described yesterday by former SOL
ders Of the American Expeditionary
Force before the subcommittee Of the
House OF Representatives headed by
Royal c. Johnson, of South Dakota,
which has been invest eating cruclties
practiscd upon soldiers in army prison
camps abroad. All Of the witnesses
were men who have returned to civil
life.
Gutzon Borglum. the sculptor, who
aided in the investigation Of th9"army
aircraft scandals of year ago, was
present to aid the committee. Repre-
sentative Oscar Bland OF Indiana took
turns with Mr.. Johnson in questioning
the soldier witnesses. Representative
Henry Flood did not attend At the
close OF the hearing the committee re-
turned to Washington, and on August
r will sail for France to continue it's
investigation of army irreg gularities.
The hearing yesterday was held at the
Hotel McAlpin. Half a dozen witnesses
testified, all along similar lines.
Sergeant Fred F. Bailey, of Mana
squan, N. j., testified he was one Of
detail of about fifty men who ac-
compishcd the work of destruction. He
said it was done some time in June.
Lo Il ~ ~ %k1 l1x
said:
"We were told to take the instru-
ments out of the boards and cart them
away to empty hangers. We went to
work on about 150 planes. We took
out the speed registers, the gauges for
altitude, and other similar instru-
ments.
Engines Were Wrecked
There were Liberty planes, Spads.
Simpsons and one or two wrecked
German planes. We would attach a
rope to the fusclagc Of the plane after
the boots had been taken out of the
engine. Then the plane would be
pulled over on it's nose and the engine
would fall out on the ground, dis
tanca CT four or five feet sufficient to
wreck it, We did this under orders Of
master signal electrician, who was
I
lieutenant standing around"
What was. done with the planes
after you had jcrked the engines out
Of them? ~ asked Representative Bland.
"The men said they were burned.
When they get afire they burn like
pa'cr.'
Were all of the planes new ones ?"
mo. Some were marked salvage,
"No. ONE we're marked 'salvage,'
some were marked do not salvage,
but others had tags on them that n
dicated they had just arrived. I saw
one log book, taken from one OF the
planes, that stated the plane had been
| in the air twenty minutes"
Hints at Explanation
Did it occurA.o you that some one
was anxious not to have these planes
compete in the market back in
Amerca,' asked Representative Bland.
at didn't at the time, | was think
ing about getting home then"
Does it occur to you now?"
ut seems very possible"
Why were you interested in the
destruction Of those planes 2"
We'll, it looked like a shame to
destroy government property in hat
Manner
usual bonfire was John c. McKeague, Of
: the 229 Air Squadron. He was a
chauffeur and now lives in Thirteenth
Street, Brooklyn.
There were two fires" he said "In
one about 1l5 planes were burned.
They had been rolled in line tail to
tail with noses on the ground. There
when the kre started we could see and
hear the tanks explode. 1t was against
orders to take pictures Of the air.
planes being prepared for destruction
or of the fire. Guards were posted
about the planes and we were kept
why"
did you think it was likely they
didn't want pictures taken so tina. the
American people might be l,crt in
ignorance Of this wanton destruction
of propcrty?" asked Mr. Bland.
yes that seemed likely reason"
Did any one get pictures q"
Il know one man who took
some pictures with vest pocket
camera while the fire was burn
ing. He lives in Pennsylvania.
inc pictures, Of course, he took
against orders. There were sew
cral officers watching the fire. but
like us, they were barred from ap-
preaching"
Did you see men start the fire?"
81 saw the smoke at the start aid the
word quickly spread that the million
dollar fire wo had been expecting was
under way"
"ls there any chance the fire was
accidental"
Not a chance
McKeague gave the names of about
dozen men living in different parts
OF the country who saw the fire.
Another witness who aided in the
partia dlsmantling of the planes be-
tore they were destroyed was Marion
Payne, of Oil City, Penn, travelling
salesman who was chauffeur in the
army. He said he was member of the
21'th Air Squadron. He said:
, 81 helped to remove the motors from
the planes that wera to be destroyed.
Sides Hammered In
I'VE took hammers, under instruc
tfons, and crushed in the sides of thu
planes so We could loosen the bolt.
hn ding the engine in place. Then tn,
pLsne would be hauled over on it's nose
by means of rope secured to the tai
and the engine would drop out Thi.
wou d crack the aluminium engine bed
and otherwise work havoc so as to rem
der them useless. There were tires il
absol utely good condition on all thes,
planes. Some of tho planes still het
The s.Etipping tags on them-frcsh from
the limited Statps''