Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-14
NAVY MEN STUDY
CAUSE OF CRASH
OF NORTON'S PLANE

Continued from First Page)
forced to emulate corkscrew in
squeezing in with minimum flying
clothing. The racing planes built last
year were so designed as to enable
the pilot to carry a small chute.
Urged to Fly Carefully.
Several days ago Lieut.. Norton was
| taken in hand by a brother aviator
and comma nded in thunderous tones
not 10 stunt the plane or manlpu-
late II in any manner that would bring
heavy stresses on its wings and tail
controls. AT that time it was pointed
out to him that the plane was not new.
that 1t had been worked hard In its
ia st life and probably deterioration of
vital members had set in to an extent
that visual inspection could not reveal
the decay. Lieut.. Norton gave his sol
cmn promise that he would not put
the plane through unnecessary maneu-
Vers and kept his word.
The plane was laid down In April
of 1923, and in October of that year
Lieut. A. J. Williams. jr., flew 1t to
victory in the Pulitzer race at st.
Louis at a speed OF 243.61 miles per
hour. Then it was taken to New
York. and IN November, or a month
| later. Lieut. Williams and Lieut.. II. j.
Brow, in a sister ship, "of the same
blood and bones dived their craft
from high attitudes for the world
speed record In all. Lieut.. Williams
dived the plane about 20 times from
attitudes ranging from 1000 to 5000
feet. The hazardous diving was stop
20 fol np
! CURED and the plano was put in stor-
| age. Brow's ship was turned over to
| the ARMY. and at Wilbur Wright
! Field Ohio in the Summer of 1924. it
: collapsed in flight. killing Lieut.. Alex
! ander Pearson. noted Army pilot.
| Lieut.. Pearson had Just pulled out of
! a dash across the speed course when
| a wing strut gave way. Two months
! later his racing companion, Capt.
! Burt f. Skeel was killed In IN older
| model when the wings came OF.
| One of the charges made ~ Col.
/ William Mitchell for which he was
court-ma ialed dealt with the Army
and Navy using racing planes for
more than one year. He declared that
the great strain put upon them our
| ing one race was sufficient to endanC"r
their stability for further contests.
/ He did not meet with agreement from
all sides on this stand. testimony be
! ing offered to show that after two
| and three wears the racers had per-
1 formed satisfactorily.
Declared Staunth at Factory.
Last wear about this time the R2C2.
! as the plane. which crashed yesterday
was designated. was flown TO WASH
! ineton by Lieut.. Cuddihy from Phlla-
delpha in 40 minutes and used as I"
dog ship" by candidates for tn"
| Schneider racing team. 1t then was
flown to Baltimore by Lieut.. Ralph
! Ofstie of the Bureau of Aerona utlcs,
! Navy Department, and remained there
for several DAYS, exposed a great deal
of the time to the weather because
of lack of hangar space. After the
| contest II was taken to Philadelphia
| and stored at the aircraft factory.
! Several repla dement's were made. ana
! II was declared AT the factory to he
| the strongest plane the engineers had
| dealt with.
However, the fear spread in Wash
ineton that the plane was too Ola 10
| he subjected to the strain of even nor
NAL straight-away flying, ne
era she's of Capt. Skeel ana Lieut.
Pea rSOn kept hobblng up as al al Eu-
ment that structural failure might
! occur anv minute. Those VINO
thought this way, though, did not
have and still do not have any teen
pical facts in hand to support thelr
belief that the plane was unsafe.
| II was not in the hest of condition
whom brought to Washington. ana
dir station mechani made some re-
| nairs and adjustments before Ileul
cuddihv took it up for test Night
| II performed perfectly in this eN.
nerienced racing pilots hands: ana
then Lieut.. Tomlinson, candidate
for the Schneider squad, also flew II
for short time. Lieut.. Norton had
his first jump in it last Week BE
cause of his wide experience WIN
hieh.speed planes. the flying or TINS
| craft came almost as an ordihaf!
everyday event for him. and he he
bayed like an "old-timer" on his first
hon observers said. Lieuts. George
r henderson, c. G.. Champion. r. n:
| Conant Cd. and John !. Lenhart. I'll
candidates for the team. were sched-
Med TO make several practice nights
| each. -
| When Lieut.. Norton plunged 10
/ dea,h in the mud fats boat was
rusbed ont from the station. Recau
of the low water it could not get crosse
10 tho plane hut this did not deter,
tents Cuddhy. Henderson ana
: lanes d. Rarner. his intimate friends'