Arizona republican., 1922-02-23
Army Board Is
Called To Probe
Roma Disaster
(Continued From Page y

the nose Of the ship down. We went
back to see what caused 1t and'
found the control was not working.
Everything possible was done to
st-aighten the ship and get her on
an even keel again. Captain Mabry
gave orders to shut off all motors.
The last four were shut off. The
forward motor was running. 1t is
possible that the engineer was so
thrown out of his position that he
could not see the signals on his dial.
When the ship hit, / was thrown
into the upper part of the cabin, ]
was shut in and got out only when
hole was burned in the cabin.
Lieutenant Welch crawled out with
me. Both Of us had to go through
flames to get TO safety.
Sergeant Chapman, who was also
In the cabin, cut a hole in the wall
and he and Reardon "a major and
passenger who survived the disaster)
crawled out through that hole"
Army officers also emphasized that
the rudder had given way and that
fire did not occur until the ship
struck the electric wires Their view
was summarized In the following
five points:
First that the left rudder OF the
Roma gave way when she was less
than half q mile from where she
went down near the army base fire
station.
Second, that there was no fire on
the ship until after the tilt began
as a result OF the right hand side OF
the rudder going into an almost ver-
tical position.
Third, that the craft became un-
manageable as she swooped down
over the base reservation narrowly
missing a I60 foot smokestack Of the
centra heating plant.
Fourth, that the immediate cause
Of the explosion with such force as
to wreck the entire craft and set her
on fire was contact with a net OF
1900 volt high power electric wires,
less than one hundred feet from
where the Roma crashed into pile
OF debris.
Fifth. that the Liberty motors,
which were being tested. were not
responsible for the disaster, unless
something more tangible should be
learned than appeared today.
"If there had been no blaze before
Colonel Fished declared, the men
LfdQPCu uHuCE LuO SLScA dtiu NdlNdo
OF the ships rigging doubtless would
have been burned to death anyway,
for the gasoline that poured out of
the tanks over the wreckage would
have ignited from the engines"
The disaster has in no way at
fected the morale of the men of his
station. Colonel Fisher said.
"Of course" he explained, "this
awful affair has cast a pail OF gloom
over the entire station. but the army
flyers regard it merely as a part of
the days work so to speak. 1t was
one Of the happenings that men who
go UP in the air must take a chance
on"
Complete suspension of business
on the Virginia peninsula during the
quarter hour al noon Friday has been
arranged as a tribute to the men who
met death in the destruction of the
airship.
Five OF the II injured men who
We're first taken to the public health
service hospital. have now been
found strong enough to be removed
to Langley field. They are Major ].
D. Beardon, Captain Walter ]. Reed,
Lieutenant G. Fl. Welsh. Sergeant
Biedenbach and Corporal Flores.
A small morgue in Newport News
housed the dead, 80 OF whom had
been identified tonight. None was
allowed to see them except for pur-
poses of Identification, but wives,
mothers and sweethearts gathered
about and a crowd was in evidence
all day. The bodies were badly
burned and Identification in many
cases was made by watches or artir
cIes OF jewelry recovered with them.