The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1921-05-30
Greatest Disaster In His
tory of Aerial Naviga-
ton Occurs Fifty
Miles From Washing
ton When Seven Dis
tinguished Men, Are
Dashed to Death, and
Plane Completely
Demolished.


GERS were preparing today for an of
ticial investigation of the crash during
Storm late Saturday, near Indian
Head. Md, of the ambulance airplane
in which seven men, five army Of
fcers and two civilians, met death.
The fact that every occupant of the
machine was killed, making it neces-
sary for a board on inquiry to depend
largely on the observations of distant
eye witnesses in forming their con-
clusonS. made it appear doubtful that
the exact cause of the disaster could
eyer be developed
Hit by Electrical Storm
The plane, a Curtis Eagle, which
rad been divested of its ambulance
equipment, was making return flight
from Langley Field, Va, to Washing
ton when it encountered severe elec-
lrical Storm accompanied by winds
estimated to be blowing at a hundred
miles velocity. Eye witnesses said
the plane unable to make headway in
the face of the wind, descended ap-
parentIy in an attempt to make a
landing, bat after dropping to within
-Ssbcut l00~-4eet- of the ground, ap-
preached a clump of trees, and
swerved upward. The trees were
cleared, but the plane started for an
open field nearby, it was seen to
culver, turn over and dive vertically
to the earth
Found All Dead
Those who reached the wreck first
found all seven men dead. All the
bodies were closely grouped together,
some badly multilated by the engine,
which had been torn from its bed and
thrown backward, cutting the men
down like a scythe as it ploughed
through the narrow passenger COM
/ partment of the plane. A watch later
found had stopped at 6:25 o'clock,
! 3howing the exact time of the trag-
edy. Army officers. who later viewed
/ the wreckage, said it was the worst
they had ever seen and were at a loss
TO understand how it could have re.
suited from such short fall
The Victims
The killed were
Lieut.. Col. Archie Miller, of Wash.
ington. who served in the Spanish.
American war; Philippine insurrec
ton, where he won the congressional
medal Of honor. and in the world war.
He at one time was in command OF
Mitchell Field Long Island
Lieut. Stanley NJ. Ames, of Wash
ington, who had been married only
about three weeks, served in the Ca
madam and American forces overseas.
and suffered a severe bayonet wound
while with the Canadians. He was
regarded as an expert pilot as we'll as
an authority on aero-engineering
Lieut.. Cleveland A McDermott, OF
Syracuse, N. Y, stationed at Langley
Field He served in both the Cana
dian and American firing forces, was
decorated by both governments for
valor and was officially credited with
/ bringing down two Greman planes.
Lieut.. John NJ. Penniwell, stationed
ct Langley Field. Little was known
/ here of his record
/ Sergeant Richard Blumenkranz an
expert mechanic. stationed at Boiling
Field here.
Maurice Connolly, civilian, native
! OF Dubuque, Iowa, sales manager Of
4 the Curtis Airplane Company, former
/ congressman, and served in the air
/ forces during the war with the rank
! OF major. He was graduate of Cor
neil and the law school and was a
student of state and national politics
A. G. Batchelder. civilian, newspa-
per man and one of the organizers of
the American Automobile Association
and chairman of its board of direc-
tors. He was a native of Attica, Ind
Brought to Washington
The bodies of all the victims were
brought to Washington and taken to
Walter Reed hospital where they
were being held pending advices from
relatives
Other machines returning from
Langley Field maneuvrs wr caught
in the same storm that sent the big
ambulance plane down, and several
fiers narrowly escaped death. One Of
these was Brig. Gen. William Mitch
ell, assistant chief of the army air
school who finally brested the ele-
ments and escaped the storm area by
going miles out of his course before
landing at Boiling Field
Capt. B. S. Wright, flying Fokkerl
machine, did not fare so well. He.
was caught in the wind and forced
down. In attempting to land, hIa.
plane crashed but he escaped win
only bad shaking up and brUint4
although his CRATE was c0mplet<|
wrecked.