The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-30

resentatives.
 A. c. BRtcheIder of Washington. ID. C.. chairman of the board of the Amer icnn Automobile association.
 Lieut. Stanley M. Ames of Boston, pilot of tho wrecked plane.
 Lieut.. Cleveland ". McDermott Langley Field. Va.
 Lieut.. John M. Hennewfn. Langley Field, Va.
 Sergt. Mechanic Richard BIumen- kranx. Washington, ID. c.
 Army air service officers said ths accident was the worst In the history of aviation in the United States, either military or civil, and that 1t was ono of the few in which all of the passen- gers in a falling plane had been killed almost instantly.
 Strikes Nose First
 The ship struck the ground nose first and the force of the impact was so great that the big horsepower Liberty motor in the front end of the craft was torn from it's chassis and thrown back into the cockpit. All bodies were badly mutilated.
 The Curtis Eagle was returning from & trip to Langley Field near Newport News, Va, and had Just crossed tho Potomac river when 1t ran into the storm which had passed over Wash ington an hour before. The exact cause of the accident probably never win b0 known as those in the machine were dead when witnesses from Morgan town, a little village near Indian Head, reached the scene
 An official investigation of the acci- dent will be ordered. At that inves- tigation it Is possible an inquiry will be made into the general design and practical use of the army of such a machine, the only one of it's type In the army service. Air service officers said today that when the plane left Langley Field 1t was apparently in per- feet running condition and had been functioning properly during several hours Tn the morning and afternoon
 Declares Plane Unbalanced
 Captain DeI4avergne, air attache of the French embassy, who made the trip in the Eagle from Washington, said tonight that in his opinion the pHsaele was ,unbalanced. .-.& sssss.s4-ss
 ass sssYs salii -sgs s f2f zE. ENssssA Captain DeLnvefgne said Tt had q small motor of only 400- horsepower. The weight was too much; the pilot could not control 1t. I declined to re- turn in 1t and came back by boat"
 Representatives Campbell of Kansas, chairman of the House rules commit tee, and Walsh of Massachusetts who went to Langley Field in the Eagle. also returned to Washington by boat. MT. Campbell said 'onight the element of safety had not entered into their decision not to return in the Eagle; that both of them were seasick and the air in the closed plane was bad.
 'If the ship had been open we would have returned In it,' said MT. Camp bell. q suggested to Walsh that we return by boat He was seasick an1 I didn't feel very steady. We had been more than two hours at sea in a Martin Bomber, observing bombing experiments
 'On the way down to Langley Field the air was rough and very bumpy. We had a wonderfully good pilot. lie would run into an air bank ike IL were a hillside and then the machine would drop, sometimes more than lo' feet"
 Considered Expert Pilot Rrigadier General Mitchell, assistant chief of the army air service, who accompanied the Eagle to Langley Field. and who had an exciting battle with the storm during his return flight, said Lieutenant Aimes, pllotlns the Eagle, was considered one or the best DllOtS or the lNiSC 1HN S't@S @'AS ship was apparently in perfect con dition. "We felt no concern for his safety, said the general, and when the Eagle circled over the field 8 couple of times before strengthening out on the north | erly course for Washington It was running perfectly. He waived goodbye from the field. expecting that the pig ship would be in Washington pefore we were ready to leave Langley.
 The Eagle left Langley Field at about 4:30 o'clock yesterday. The time of the wreck is placed at e:z9 D. m., the hour at which watch car | ried by Mir. Connoll was found to hayn | stopped. Naval officers at Indian Head who saw the plane go down, de- clare that Pilot Aimes tried to bring his machine down before the full force of the storm struck but that he was | prevented from making landing at the first attempt by a grove Of trees. The airship crossed over the trees safely and appeared to put In power to reach an open field short distance away.
 Apparently the motor either failed to respond or the high wind checked the ships flight. for it was seen 10 turn over and fall nose first. It then was only a few hundred feet in the air. Officers at Indian Head sent a detachment to the scene, but 1t was l some time before they arrived and word of the accident did not reach i Rolling field here until Il o'clock last night
 1 Wife Awaiting Pilot. | Officers at the field had been await | ing the arrival of the&Eagle, but when ! she failed to arrive early in the even ling they assumed that she either had | landed somewhere to escape the storm or turned back to Langley field. Mrs. Ames, wife of the pilot, was wait | Ing for her husband at the landing field and when the report of the ac- 1 cident came she started for Morgan town in her automobile. arriving after midnight and remaining there through the night.
 | The bodies of the dead were taken out of the plane by the naval detach- ment and early today were started to Washington on navy motor trucks Meantime officers in charge of army amb ulances had been sent from this city and the bodies were transferred to them and carried to Walter Reed hospital here. The families of the dead have been notified and their wishes 1 with regard to the funerals will be carried out.
 For the trip to Langley field from Washington, which began yesterday morning. the plane was stripped of its hospital equipment and seats provided for the passengers who were taken to the Virginia aviation grounds to wit ness a review of the army air fleet