The New York herald., 1922-09-24

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and they died within short time.
Witnessed by $4,000.
The fatal crash came during a "fly-
ing circus" ar anged as "side show
for more than $4,000 spectators who
stood by and witnessed the death
plunge.
Awestruck by the suddenness Of the
crash, thousands of the spectators
ments after the plane had struck with
a resounding thud. Many Others
however, raced toward the burning
machine. Guards We're detailed i'm
mediately. to hold back the throngs.
Lieut.. Davis was pilot of the regu-
lar army air service. With his Mar
tin bomber. one of the heaviest ma
chimes at the Mineola war games, he
had participated throughout the ma
neuvers. With three other planes.
the Martin bomber had gone aloft to
aid in a raid on theoretical fortifica-
tions of the defenders.
The Storming fliers had succeeded in
demolishing the Notifications when
they were spotted by the brilliant rays
cast upward from powerful army
searchlights of more than a million
candle power.
After being located by the search
lights, the squadron was ordered down
through radiograph messages from the
umpires. Then came the flying cir
Gus" which was to be a spectacular
feature Of the war games. Lieut..
Davis, with his five passengers. had
been aloft only a few moments and
had just completed series of figure
eights when his giant plane streaked
! downward. apparently out OF his con-
| troll 1t had both motors wide open.
Mist May Have Blinded Davis.
A purple land mist, which came
up after the big plane had taken off
probably was responsible. The mist
rose to a height of 100 feet, COM
pletely covering the ground. When
Davis left his last figure eight he was
between 700 and 500 feet off the
ground
Not realizing that the mist had come
up beneath him and failing to appre-
ciate, it Is believed, that he had lost
considerable height in his evolutions
Davis did not take the necessary
emergency measures when the plane
nosed down.
To spectators it appeared that he
was planning to land and wished to
lose height before coming ino the
field. The land virtually rose up and
struck the plane. Observers say they
do not think Davis ever knew what
happened.
The accident occurred about one and
half miles from the flying headquar-
ters and about 200 yards south of the
Hampstead turnpike. which was lined
with spectators. At this point the am
bulances from flying headquarters
were waiting with motors running in
case of accidents and started off al
most simultaneously with the burst of
flames which told all of the disaster.
Major G.. V. Rukee and Capt. Luther
II. Kice, both of the army medical
corps. were in the ambulance which
sped across the big field. When they
reached the wreck. the fire had burned
itself out and only the skeleton of the
plane remained. The bodies of Lieut..
Davis and two of the men were in the
wreckage. The other three were SO
badly injured that army surgeons held
no hope for them.
Three men had been thrown clear
OF the machine. indicating that these
had risen at the last second and were
standing when the nose of the machine
hit the ground. The injured were ter
ribly bruised and battered, and while
the authorities at the field hospital de.
clined to say definitely. the surgeons
did not believe any OF them had a
fighting chance for life.
Fragments of the plane were scat
tered over an area of three hundred
square feet.
Lieut.. Davis, who was 2S, was born
In Illinois. He was considered one
of the abest pilots of Martin bombing
planes in the service, and was sent
by Major-Gen Mason NJ. Patrick, chief
of the air service. to Mitchell Field
from Langley Field, Va, two days
ago to pilot Martin bomber back to
Langley Field at the close Of the war
games at Nineola.
Major Weaver. commanding at
Mitchell Field issued the following
statement:
"The plane was engaged in maneu-
vers with searchlights from Fort
Totten. While in the air the plane
approached the ground at rather
steep angle and crashed, At the time
the plane was beyond all searchlights
and no searchlights were playing
on II.
1T makes IT rather difficult to tell
what the cause Of the accident was
and II probably viii remain one Of
those accidents Of which the cause will
never be known"
The mimic warfare for the educa-
ton and instruction OF the reserve
officers of the Second Corps area and
participated in jointly by the Air Ser
vice. the Engineers and the Field and
Coast Defense Artillery. has been In
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