New Britain herald., 1922-07-31
TWO BURN TO DEATH
 AS AIRPLANE FALLS
Terrible Air Tragedy Occurs lt
 Port JerYis, L.I.

Port Jarvis, July 3l.-Lteut. Tracy E. Lyons 24 and Augustus Altmeist. 24. son Of MT. and Mrs. A. P. AltmeisY of this city, were burned to deatA yesterday afternoon when the Army airplane which Lyons was driNnt. crashed to earth In | nose dive and burst into flames.
 Several hundred persons along Nsv, ersink road, at the beach and At tAS Country clud grounds saw Lieut., Lyons and young Altmeier take the air few minutes after 3 o'clock. The machine went only a short distance and was about l5o feet in the air, when 1t suddenly turned slightly and then fell to the ground A dozen per. sons reached the spot within | {ew minutes, but they could no nothing more than throw sand on the burning plane in a futile attempt to put out the fire. Nearly an hour later, when the flames had practically burned themselves out the bodies were taken out Of the wreckage.
 Two officers from Mitchell field were expected in Port Jarvis late last night to conduct an investigation of the ae. cident. A broken propeller and sn. zine trouble have been put forward as possible explanations. An army officer said last night that Lieut.. Lyons was violating army reSulatiouy when he allowed Altmeier, a civilian, to so up with him.
 Under Study Orders
 Lieut.. Lyons left Mitchell field, a4 ri, Ca$ Aia~ Capt Walter Dodd to make | nnal reconnaissance before completing hiQ two weeks of training as reserve of. ficer. He was under orders to carry out certain studies in the trip pre-. scribed in training. He left Capt Dodd at Chester, 25 miles from here. and then proceeded to the golf links at the Country club here, where he found satisfactory landing place after he had circled the links several times.
 He passed Saturday night with his mother and father. MT. and Mrk James H. Lyons. His father is a con- ductor on the Erie railroad. Tester. day afternoon he agreed that Alt meier should accompany him as far as Middleton, where he was to pick up Capt. Dodd. and resume his flight back to Mitchell field. He was due to arrive at the field late yesterday.
 When Lieut.. Lyons and Altmeier got in the plane his father and moth. CT were on the porch sof the club.
 Mother Shielded
 Lieut.. Lyon's mother had seen the plane begin the flight, but the mo- ment that it was evident something was wrong somebody pulled her back into the club house. She was taken home and did not learn that her son had been killed until some time after ward.
 The plane fell into patch of canta. loupes, and the instant it struck the earth, flames shot up and envelepsd the plane and the two men.
 The bodies were so badly burned that it was impossible to identify them, except by the fact that yons must have been in front and in the pilots seat and Alameier in the seat behind him.
 Altmeier whose father is postnas- ter of Port Jarvis, was graduated from high school here three years ago and since then has been engaged iA construction work.
 Lieut. Lyons was in the aviation service during the war and was stA. toned most of the time at Kelly hela, San Antonio. Since the war he had passed most of his time in Louisiana, where he was interested in oil devel- opment. He came back to Port Jar. wis recently, and two weeks ago went to Mitchell field to take the two weeks' training prescribed for reserve ofA. cers