The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1921-06-10
7 Die AS STORM
WRECKS AIRPLANE
Curtiss-EagIe Ambulance Ship,
Returning From Langley Field,
Runs Into Electrical Storm.
WORST AVIATION DISASTER
Five Army Officers and Two Civilians
Found Mutiiated in Debris-Lands
Nose First and 400 Pound Mo-
tor Crusles Victims.

Washington.-The worst airship dis
aster in the history of aviation in
America occurred at Indian Head,
Md, and cost the lives of four army
officers, q non-commisSioner officer and
two prominent civilians.
Every man In the plane-a giant
I Curtis-Eagle designed as aerial am
-bulance-was instantly killed when it
crashed in a violent electrical storm.
The dead are:
Lieutenant Colonel Archie Miller
z. S. A NJ H., Washington, d. c.
Maurice Connolly of Dubuque, Iowa.
former member of the Board of the
American Automobile Association.
Lieutenant Stanley NJ. Ames Of
Washington, pilot of the wrecked
plane.
Lieutenant Cleveland w. McDermott,
Langley, Field, Va.
Lieutenant John NJ. Pennewell,
Langley Field, Va.
Sergeant Mechanic Richard Blumen-
kranz, Washington, d. c.
The plane, one of the largest in the
army service, was on its way in re-
turn trip from Langley Field at New
port News to Washington.
Near Morgantown, about 40 miles
from Washington, it ran into freak
storm. The giant airship was sup
posed to be able to weather anything
that any other plane could fly in, but
the storm-a succession of sudden,
violent gusts, blowing in all directions,
and accompanied by thunder and
lightning, though with little rain -
tossed 1t about. The air experts
theory Is that the pilot, taking ad-
vantage, as he thought, of a lull,
sought to bring the craft to land.
When the ship was nearing the earth
a tremendous blast seemed to come
right down on it, driving it to the
ground. Whether anything had weak
ened or broken under the strain to
the chopping wind will never be
known. There are no survivors to
tell exactly what happened, but those
who haw the descent dimly through
the rain and other ayiators who were
up say that the force of the descend
ing blast was quite sufficient to crush
any aircraft to earth unless 1t had
plenty of navigating space. The big
ambulance ship was flying low, whence
the assumption that the pilot was
trying to effect a landing.
Capt. Burdette Wright, who was fly
ing one of the army planes not far be-
hind the big Curtiss, was caught in
the same down wind. Like the other,
his ship was driven to the ground, but
the wind did not get the same pur-
chase as it got on the tremendous wing
spread of the ambulance ship, and,
though he was badly bruised, and suf-
fered many injuries, Including q
broken nose, he escaped with his life.
The ship struck the ground nose
first, and the force of the impact was
so great that the big 4OO-horsepoWer
Liberty motor in the front end of the
craft was torn from it's chassis and
thrown back into the cockpit ON top
Of the pilot and the passengers. All
of the bodies were badly mutilated.
An official investigation of the acci-
dent was ordered. At that investiga-
ton it is possible and inquiry will be
made into the general design and prac-
teal use by the army of such ma
chine, the only one of it's type in the
army service fitted with ambulance
enuinment, Air service officers said
that when the plane left Langley Field
it was apparently in perfect running
condition, and had been functioning
properly during several hours in the
morning and afternoon.