The New York herald., 1922-03-18
One of Seven Machines We'll
coming Gen. Mitchell Is
Wrecked Near Port.
AVIATORS HANG ON WING
Two Men Saved When Liberty
Motor Tears Loose After
Drop of 400 Feet.

When the great Cunarder Aqui-
tania. from Southampton and Cher
bourg, was nearing Ambrose Channel
lightship yesterday afternoon a forma-
ton of seven airplanes in command of
c. e. Crumrine, from Mitchell Field,
appeared on the transparent and
sunny horizon, flying low in a stiff
northwesterly wind that made aerial
navigation bit difficult
Most of the big ships AS first cabin
voyagers knew that the squadron
aloft was celebrating the return of a
fellow passenger. Major-Gen. Mitchell,
second in command of the Army Air
Service. Six of the planes lowered
several miles from the ship, but one
appeared to be ambitious to get a
closeup of the General, who. with a
large number of other passengers, was
out watching the sky show.
Plane Appears I'm Trouble.
The particular plane that finally filled
the vision of the seagoers to the exclu-
sion of others was a De Haviland,
equipped with a ponderous 400 horse
power Liberty motor. in charge of Lieut..
Francis B. Valentine and David H.
Stivens, mechanicn. When less than a
mile from the liner, which was slicing
the wind swept. lumpy seas at twenty
two knot pace, anxious to make her
pier before sunset. the ships company.
sky gazing. noted that the plane seemed
to be In trouble. 1t was then about 400
feet above the sea.
Gen. Mitchell was on the bridge with
the ships commander. Capt Sir James
Charles, watching the maneuvers of the
squadron, some OF which were risky,
considering the briskness of the wind
The liner had taken on her pilot from
the pilot boat New York and was In a
hurry to make port. Lieut.. Valentine's g
command startled the General by sud
denly making a nose dive after swooping
down few hundred feet astern Of the
Aquitania. The plane made a turn TO
the left before she plunged into the
water.
Described by Gen. Mitchell.
The General himself thus described
what happened, from the viewpoint of
observers aboard the liner:
"Sir Charles said that he would at
once order the ship full speed astern to
pick up the men. The plane settled In
the water, but did not sink at once. and
the men climbed on top OF the upper
wing.
THE observer waved his hands, but
as / saw that the plane would not sink
Immediately, and the pilot boat nearer
than our own ship, would pick them up,
I told the commander there was great
danger OF drowning the men by the wash
Of the Aquitania IL she attempted to
stop. so the Captain kept on"
Gen. Mitchell did not learn the names
of the two men until after he had
landed. The aviators were picked up by
the pilot boat, much exhausted and suf-
fering from shock.
The Clyde liner Huron. from Santo
Domingo, was following the Aquitania
into Ambrose Channel, and her skipper.
Capt. Hart, saw the plane plunge and
headed for her. The pilot boat beat him
to 1t. but he contributed his surgeon,
DR.. T. NJ. Maxwell. who boarded the
pilot boat from one of the aHurons life
boats. DR.. Maxwell remained aboard
the New York with the aviators and ac-
companied them later to Staten Island,
where they were put into a hospital
They said they we're about 400 feet
up when their plane plunged nose down
into the sea, striking the water with
great force. The heavy Liberty motor
was torn from its fastenings and went
to the bottom OF the channel.
II was to this incident that the
aviators say they owe their lives. as
they would have been dragged under
and drowned swiftly IL the weight OF
the motor had not left the plane free
to float.
Gen. Mitchell said he had found in
his four months trip In Europe great
development in commercial air work. In
England and France they are making
great progress, using planes in traffic
much as we use the railroads here,