The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1922-03-03
|A|RSH|P DISASTER
AR0USES OFFICIALS
AiRsHiP ROMA is WRECKED IN
FLIGHT BEING MADE TO TEST
NEW LIBERTY MOTORS
Langley Field officer Says Cause of
Wreck In Which Thirty-four Men
Lost Lives VIII Always
Remain 4 Mystery

Norfolk, Va.--Army air service ex-
perts Wednesday put under way their
investigation TO determine the cause Of
the disaster to the American airshjp
Roma, In which thlrty-four were killed
and eleven Injured.
Stark and flame scared. the twisted
steel skeleton that had been the queen
of American skies, lay near the Nor
folk mud flats Wednesday, Its charred
remains conceahng many of the secrets
the air service experts win seek to
probe. q
None Will ever know what eflised
her TO collapse" one officer from Lang
ley field said.
Practically every one Of the thirty
four victims was burned to death, Of
ficers and physicians said. Most of
the bodies we're identified by trinkets.
Major General Patrick. chief of the
army air service, Washington, was on
the ground with an army court of in
quiry to determine the blame. While
the court Will require several days to
complete Its investigation, the fndica-
tlon was that the crew would be exon
Grated and the cause of the crash re-
ported as unknown"
The consensus of opinion Is that
Captain ID. L. Mabry, commander or
the Roma, in making the turn over the
army base failed to allow for the in
creased power. The rudder broke I'M
der the unusual strain, jumming into
the controls. This occurred at height
estimated at $50 feet. The Roma's
nose pointed down and Lieutenant
Burt, at the elevation level, tugged des-
perately to straighten the ship. She
refused to respond and he yelled at
Captain Mabry to shut off the motors.
They were shut off one by one.
In the meantime. the helpless giant
sagged rapidly. nose pointing down at
an angle Of As degrees: Two score
feet from the ground the nose passed
over half-dozen high tension wires,
tearing them to fragments. A second
later the dirigible thrust her nose into
mass of steel billets, machine parts
and scrap iron and collapsed on IT'S
living freight. A DIV. seconds more
and the fire ignited by the twisting
serpents of flame from the 25OO-volt
electric wires, swept the wreckage.
A great sheet of fame shot from the
huge gas Gag, leaping high into the air
and driving away the scores of SOL
diers and civilians who rushed to the
rescue. Unable to approach the pyre
the rescuers turned in fire alarm and
then picked up Lieutenant Reilly, who
had jumped from the machine just be-
fore she struck the wires. He had
failed to open his parachute and
,reashed into mass of metal. He died
On the way to the hospital.
When the fire was extinguished,
iozen charred bodies were found
-angled in the skeleton.
The rest of the bodies were held fast
under the ship and a derrick was used
i life the giant frame before these
,ould be released
Few of the survivors could recall
he incidents leading up to the collapse.
Lieutenant Welsh and Major Rear
Ion were in the forward cabin when
he collapse came. They were stunned
or few seconds and while still in
laze began cutting away at the fabric.
After cutting a large hole they found
themselves directly over deep depres-
Ion in the ground and this enabled
hem to crawl TO safety.
Captain S. G. Whitehurst. army en-.
ineer, an eye witness, said the shin
to be in distress at a height
t 1000 feet. He could easily see the
my figures of the crew passengers
frantlcally back and forth.
hrowing ballast. storage batteries and
Their movable articles over the side in
n effort to tighten the ship.
Stories of the crash conflict, but.
eneral opinion is that the gas bag
EXPLODED as the ship struck the ground.
More than half of the officers and
len killed were survived by wives and
hildren. The families of the officers
We at the field and here and there
long the neat rows of homes flowing
lack crepes stir gently in the breeze.
II.