Arizona republican., 1921-05-31
ORDER OFFICIAL PROBE OF.FATAL
 PLANE CRASH
IRepubIiean A. P. Le.sed wireI

lnc al liiS ar ctINlCc tO investigate circumstances surrounding the acci- | dent in which five army men and two civilians lost their lives when a big | army Curtiss Eagle ambulance air | plane crashed in a severe storm Sat urday night, was announced today by Maj. NJ. F. Scanlon, commandant at Boiling field
 The officers named are Capt. ". C. Ocker. who was caught in the storm while flying from Langley field in a singel seat plane; Lieut.. P. C. Will to go to the scene of the crash. and Lieut. Leroy Wolfe. They will en- deavor to determine. among other things, whether the crash resulted from any defect in design or equip ment of the airplane, or from any mistake or mismanagement by the pilot. Lieut.. s. Nj. Ames. and whether the five army men met death in line of duty.
 Hold Pilot Partially Responsible Flying officers asserted their be- lief that Lieutenant Ames had not lost his head and therefore had been, in a measure at least. respon- sible for the accident. He was one of 1 the best pilots in the service. they declared. They were also inclined to discredit reports that the wrecked machine was defective. Major Scan lon declared he had piloted a similar plane without the. ambulance equip ment to New York with eight pas | factory.
 The board visited the wreck today and took the testimony of persons nearby. They made a study of the wreckage and had it burned. as it was considered unsanitafy. Nospart of the plane was salvagcable, off cers said
 | It seemed probable that the details ! of the accident would never be known. An examination of the per sonal effects of the victims showed six of the seven watches had stopped | at 6.20 D. m., fixing the time of the crash. it was believed.
 The seventh watch stopped at 6: 25. The board was expected to report to- morrow.
 Marine Pilot Narrowly Escapes i Maj. T. C. Turner, in charge of ma rine corps aviation, it became known today. had narrow escape in the storm which caused the wreck of the
 Eagle. as well as sending a Fokker plane, piloted by Capt. B. s. Wright, l era shing down at Rock Point, Md, and giving Brig. Gen. William Mitch | ell. assist2nt chief of army aviation, and Captain OckeA his aide, some thrilling moments. He was flying from Langley field to Boiling field and ran into the outer edge Of the storm He headed for the river.
 thinking to make the marine landing field at Quantico, Va.
 l "when the storm hit me. I was fly ing at about HOO feet" he said. '1 was in a two seat plane with Lieu tenant Anderson as a passenger. j When we caught the direct blast of T the wind our speed was cut to five
 miles an hour and almost before we ,, knew wha. had hit us, we were
 knocked down from HOO feet to about
 400 in one drop. The ship was out of control.
 .'The wind changed almost instant
 ly and the resulting cross currents
 and air pockets were terrible. It
 raihed harder and the wind went
 down as we came in sight of Quan i
 tico and as we circled over the field there the sun came out a few min
 utes and we made a landing After he had made his landing.
 Major Turner found the propeller of
 his plane badly split
 Shows Need of Changes
 General Mitchell today reiterated
 the statement that Saturdays acci-
 dent furnished an illustration of the
 need for centralized control of aero-
 nautics. Properly marked air ways,
 frequent landing fields, directional . wireless communication with planes
 in the air and hourly weather reports are the standing needs. he asserted.
 They can only be obtained, he said
 by placing all aviation under a single
 control
 What we need is a congressional
 study of the aviation situation from
 the standpoint of air he said.
 "The United States. he said, has i, only about 400 military air planes available most of them obsolete. The : concentration at Langley field in preparation for the joint army navy
 bombing tests represents the nation s ' real aerial strength, he declared. add ing that the army lacks modern pur- suit planes. Great Britain's air ser vice is organized into 2z sauadrons , totalling, with reserves, more than f 5000 machines, he asserted, and is
 being increased by seven squadrons Japan is organizing an air force oi
 one division of 1.200 ships for com bat and bombing work and about 600 observation planes, he said. Japan 2 has about 500 airplanes in service . and is buying more, he added