The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-22

Only IL Survivors-Air
Service Starts Probe Of
Blimp Disaster.

Norfolk. Va, Feb. 22.-Wrecked
by fire and explosion. the Roma,
worlds largest semi-rigid airship
and pride of the American air serv-
ice, had yielded up today the last
of the dead of the disaster which
overlook her yesterday while ma
neuvering over Hampton Roads,
and sent her hurtling downward to
crash in the network of high-power
electric wires that wrought her de-
struction.
Recovery of the last body fixed
the toll of the great disaster-the
greatest in the history of American
aeronautics-at "a dead, eight in
jured and three practically unhurt.
OF the dead, 80 had been identified,
although many of the bodies of
those caught in the interior of the
ship when she crashed were burn
ed, blackened and charred almost
beyond recognition.
Gallant Officers Die.
These dead included some of the
air services most gallant officers
and men. the list containing the
names of Major John Thornell.
commander of the ship at her chris
tening in Washington last Decem-
Der, and Captain Dali Mabry. her
commander during yesterdays
flight.
Air service men from Langley
field, the home of the craft, began
shortly after dawn today the clear
ing up of the wreckage of the warp
ed and blistered skeleton and at
the same time preparations began
for the official inquiry.
Major General Mason Patrick,
chief of air service, who came here
by airplane yesterday as soon as
word of the disaster was flashed to
Washington, made a personal in
spection of the wreck during the
night and ordered an immediate in
vestigation.
Bag Was Rotten!
officers at Langley field still
were at a loss to account for the
mishap that caused the ships rud-
der to tilt and thereby caused the
410-foot craft to become unman-
ageable. Possibility developed,
however, that the inquiry would
take notice of reports that the bag
of the Roma, constructed in Italy,
was rotten, although officers at the
field declined to discuss such re-
ports.
Norfolk, Va, Feb. 22.-Investiga-
ton of the crash of the giant army
dirigible Roma at the army base
here Yesterday will begin today
with the arrival here of officers
of the army air service from Wash
ington.
The number of dead early today
remained at 81, all of whom had
been identified. OF the eleven sur
vivors of the crew and passengers,
eight were in the public health hos
pital. One of them, Charles Dwor-
ack. of Dayton, Ohio, superintend-
ent of aerial construction at Nc
Cook Field, was in critical condi-
ton. All of the others were ex-
pected to live.
Army officers who survived the
disaster declare it was caused by
the collapse of the elevating rudder.
The Roma was sailing along
smoothly about 800 feet in the air,
they said, when the elevating rud-
der suddenly buckled, throwing the
stern of the craft upward.
Rudder BuckIed.
The buckling of the rudder Grip
pled the steering apparatus and
started the Roma on its plunge to-
ward the ground. The downward
progress of the airship was check
ed by shutting off the engines, but
the pilots were powerless to right
the craft and it plunged to the
ground, crashing through line of
high tension electric wires and
landing on a pile of steel rails and
wheels.
The survivors emphatically de-
MED statements of civilians who
saw the accident from the
ground, who said that fire broke
out on the Roma before she struck
the ground. The army officers who
escaped also said they believed the
fire and explosion which followed
the crash were caused by the hea.
of the airship's motors, rather than
bv contact with the electric wires.
Victims Burn.
Striking these the big dirigible
capsized. its great 40 foot hydro
gen bag smothering the passenger
and engine compartments as it
crashed to earth to become immedi
ateIy a raging furnace of blazing
hydrogen gas in which those who
had not jumped to earth met a ter
rible death.