New-York tribune., 1922-09-25
Cause of Fatal
Airplane Crash
Sought by Army
Board of Inquiry Begins IN
vesiiga.ion of Death of f
Flyers in War Games
Show al Mitchell Field
Earth Mist Held 10 Blame
Lieut.. Davis Believed to
Have Misjudged Distance
From Ground in Nose Dive

An official investigation began yes
terday into the disaster OF Saturday
night at Mitchell Field, when six army
flyers were killed in the crash Of a
Martin bombing plane during the war
game maneuvers. The army board OF
inquiry which is conducting the in
auiry Is presided over by Major Daven-
port Johnson. 1t will be three or four
days before its inquiry is complete.
The six who were killed were all
members of the United States Army
aviation section. The pilot was Lieu
tenant Raymond f. Davis, of Langley
Field. an experienced flyer with a
splendid war record and an expert on
the type of machine he was flying
when he misjudged his distance from
the earth and hit the ground at speed
Of ninety miles @an hour. The passen-
gers were First Sergeant Thomas Ben
field, of 1880 West Seventy-second
Street, Chicago; Private Henry j. Mich
OILS, whose home address was R. F. D.
8, Carhill, Tex; Corporal David H.
stiyens, Of 210 West Thirty-fourth
Street, Manhattan, British war vet
eran. who is survived by widowed
mother in Scotland; Private, First
Glass, Edward Fl. Kane, Of S07 Forty
second Street, Brooklyn, whose mother
lives at Ashburnham, Mass, and Prl-
vate Irving NJ. Whitney, Of Ashburn-
ham
Private Narrowly Missed Fate
One of those twists of coincidence
which come to light occasionally in
connection with such tragedies as this
was found yesterday when Private
Frank Ward, of Pawtucket. r. l., told
OF his narrow escape from death IN
the smashed machine. Ward had
planned to be one of the passengers
and had asked permission to go with
Lieutenant Davis. When he presented
himself for the trip b. found that
Sergeant Benheld had taken his place
and there was no room for him. He
was bitterly disappointed, but yester-
day was soberly thankful for the freak
OF torture.
The testimony of many soldiers who
watched the machine in its downward
swoop, according to gossip at the field
yesterday, was to the effect that Lieu
tenant Davis could not have known his
distance from the ground, which was
concealed from his vision by thick
blanket of mist. The flying men and
mechanics who observed the crash
agreed that there was no fault in the
mechanism to blame for the disaster,
but say that the whole operation OF
the plane in the moments Immediately
prior to it's fall indicated that Lieu
tenant Davis was attempting to execute
a nose dive, judging his distance from
the ground to be several hundred feet
more than was actually the case.
Binding Theory Discarded
The plane was well out of the range
of the powerful searchlights which
played around the sky, and the posi-
bility that an explanation might be
found in the theory that the pilot was
temporarily blinded by these is dis
carded by the experts. On the other
hand. many fellow officers of the dead
fiier insist that he could not have made
so tragic a miscalculation of his dis
tance from the ground, in view of his
long experience and known skill as an
aviator
In a brief official report of the acci-
dent Major Weaver, in command at the
field, SAYS, at was another of those air
tragedies which probably never will be
satisfactorily explained"
Lieutenant Davis had 4 disting-
guished war career, at first with the
Signal Corps and later with the 104th
Aero Bombing Squadron. He was shot
down behind the German lines and re-
mained in a German prison camp until
after the armistice. He was appointed
first lieutenant in the regular army
air service in July, 1920, and had spe-
cialized in bombing work at Langley
Field. Corporal Stivens, who was born
In Scotland, was soldier of fortune
and one of the most popular men at
tHe tcid. During the war ne held a
commission as captain in the British
Roval Air Force