The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-09-21
FONCK PLANE IN
CRASH;2 KILLED
Continued From Page y


nothing left of it, but the metal por-
tons of the framework. The
smoke rolled UP like plume, while
around the plane was halo of
flame.
Fonck announced Monday night
that he would make his start today,
setting $50 a. m. as the time.
The plane was loaded, the men
got their final nights sleep before
leaving for Paris, and joked over
their last breakfast in America.
g Some Delay
There was some delay in getting
ready, but soon after a. m. Fonck
and Curtin climbed into the plane,
where they joined Clavier and Islam
off.
Fonck took the controls with Cur
tin beside him.
The engine was speeded up and
slowly moved away down the field,
while a thousand people sent up a
lusty cheer.
In the plane the men could be
seen bending to their work. The
engine was given more speed. But
still the plane failed to answer.
Finally it lifted a little from the
ground and settled back. Again it
came up some four feet, but could
not maintain it, and again dropped.
The plane was off the ground
four or five feet when there was a
sudden, muffled explosion, not suf-
fciently violent to be recognized as
serious by the crowd, I'M
bill the plane careened at giddy
<angle and fell into a gully which
Pseparates Roosevelt and Curtis fly
ing fields.
Two Thrown Out
Just as it fell, spectators on one
side Of the field said, Curtin and
Fonck were seen to be thrown from
the plane.
Hardly had the plane struck the
ground than smoke poured from it
and then tongues of flame fleaped up.
Soon it was apparent that the plane
would be probably total loss and
it was certain that Clavier and Is
lamoff could not escape.
The crowd surged down the field,
about three-quarters of d mile to
the spot where the plane~had fallen,
but could not approach nearer than
few hundred yards of it, on ac
count of the danger of explosion.
Landing Gear Trouble
Fonck and Curtin stopped en-
route to the Mayer home at the ST.
korsky shops near the field. Fonck
said he attributed the accident to
trouble with the auxiliary landing
gear.
IT noticed the auxiliary landing
gear had given way when we hit
a bump" Fonck said. The right
wheel went in an oblique angle and
I could feel that it had torn the
left rudder loose.
"At first I tried to slow up, but
then I knew it was useless to do
that because the gully was so close.
So I opened her up again, hoping
to get into the air, but 1 couldn't
do it and we smashed"
Fonck couldn't explain how he
and Curtin saved their lives.
S. F. G. Barber of New York was
the first man to reach Fonck and
Curtin.
Il saw them getting up from the
ground" he said. "As I ran up they
were just onto their feet. Fonck
was on one side of the plane and
Curtin on the other. Both were un-
steady, their eyes were glossy and
they cauldn't speak.
When the automobile with Fonck
and Curtin passed the Sikorsky plant
where the plane was built, Igor
Sikorsky, the Russian airplane build
err, who had made the building of
Fonck's plane the climax Of his
career as an airplane constructor,
was sobbing pitifully. Curtin and
Fonck had sufficiently recovered to
offer him comfort.
BY 1880 a. m. the flames had died
down sufficiently so that firemen
could extinguish what remained, of
the fire and it was then possible to
make the first survey Of the plane,
although the ashes still were too hot
to permit search of it's interior.
The day had been ideal for the
start. All night a cloudless sky was
lighted by the full moon and as
morning approached Jupiter shone
brightly as a guiding star for the
flyers 1t was just as the first,
roseate streaks Of dawn lighted the
eastern skies that the plane TAXED
away from the start-and it was but
a matter of minutes until the wreck
Captain F'onck and Lieutenant
Curtin went to the Mineola police
headquarters and there made a for
NAL statement to Coroner w. r.
Jones Of Hampstead Township.
They then were asked to appear
FRIDAY afternoon before the coroner
'kor the inquest.
II have found nothing which
would tend to SHOW any blame at.
tached," Jones said after talking to
Fonck and Curtin.