The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-30
SEVEN MEET DEATH IN
 CRASH OF ARMY PLANE
 WHEN STORM IS STRUCK
(Continued from Page one.)

from rage OnesD bomb tests off the Virginia capes in June and July.
 Lightning Not Responsible.
 Suggestions that the wrecking of the plane was caused by a bolt of lightning were secuted by army of- ficers, who declared that there was no record of lightning hitting plane. They said that even had bolt struck the Curtiss- Eagle, it could have done little if any damage, as the lightning could not have affected a grounding necessary to cause damage
 The theory of some officers is that an unusually heavy blast of wind struck the ship on one side and un- balanced 1t, sending it into a nose dive from which it could not recover because of the short distance to the ground.
 In preparation for the official in- qury, Lieut. Paul C. Wilkins went to the scene of the accident today to take photographs of the wreck and to obtain from eye-witnesses and others any possible information that might be of use in solving what now is mys- tery.
 Statements of naval officers at h. dian Head that the plane fell only short distance caused surprise to army air service officials who examined the personal effects of the passengers which were brought to Boiling field today A stick of shaving soap and US nickel plated container was found mashed almost as flat as knife olade. heavy black leather handbag was ripped and torn while a straw hat hich one of the civilians had worn was torn to shreds.
 NATIVE OF ILLINOIS
 Lieutenant Colonel Miller was na- tive of Illinois and was appointed to tho army from Missouri. He served in the Spanish-American war, the Philippines, where he won the congress sional medal of honor, and in the World war. He was an executive offl- cer of the aviation division of the army when the United tates declared war on Germany, and later was assigned to command of Mitchell field Long 1s- land. He was 43 years old, and is sur vived by his widow and several chil- dren
 The action which won for him the highest decoration within the gift of the American government took place on Tian island on July 2, 1909. The Americans were opposing hostile Moros and Colonel Miller under heavy fire with the assistance of an enlisted man placed a machine-gun in advance of
 
 about 20 yards from the enemy. In accomplishing this, he was obliged to srlice piece of timber to one leg of the machine-gun's tripod.
 MT. Connolly was the Washington representative of the Curtiss Airplane company, and was born at Dubuque. Ia, A years ago. He served in the air service during the war with the rank of major. For time he was ex- ecutive officer in command of Wilbur Wright Aviation school, Fairfield, O., and he flew for Liberty loans.
 Former Member of Congress
 Graduating from Cornell university in 1897, MT Connolly received the LLB. degree in the New York Law school In 1898, and afterwards took post graduate courses at Oxford, Heidelberg and Balliol colleges. He was a member of the Sixtythird Con- gress and was delegate te-at-large at the national convention in 1916. He was defeated for the United States Senate in 1914 by Senator Cu,nmins. and then became interested in airplane manufacture. He also was a regent and member of the executive commit tee of the Smithsonian institute.
 MT Connolly was a member of the American Legion and of the Aero Club of America, the Metropolitan club. the Army and Navy club and the National Press club. He was president of thel Iowa state lodge of Elks in 1913, and' was a member of the National Car riage Builders association, of which he was president in 1908.
 Lieutenant Ames had served in avia- ton for a number of years. He en- listed in the British army at the out break of the war, and later was trans ferred to the American forces In France. He was testing and engineer ing officer at Roland field, and was reg arded as an authority in aero en- gireering testing. He was married about three weeks ago.
 Lieutenants McDermott and Penne- will were stationed at Langley field, to which they were recently .rans- ferred from Kelly field, Texas, for bombing tests with the navy next mcnth. Their home addresses could not be obtained here.
 Mir. Batchelder was a former news paper man. and was native of At- tica. N. Y. He was fl years old and was one of the organizers of the Amer ican Automobile association. and had made his home in Washington for seven years or since the association opened its national headquarters in Washington.