Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-21
Blame Put on Wheel.

! and are deeply sorry because Of the
death of the radio operator, Charles
| Clavier
Blame Put on Wheel.
I'VE cannot at this moment formu.
! late our plan in regard to another at.
tempt to fly from New York to Paris
but we wish to say that we are not
discouraged, and will continue our
work, using the valuable experience
we got in the construction of the
plane, the S-35. and it's very wonder.
full performances on it's test flights"
Michael Gluhareff, chief engineer
agreed with I'onck and Curtin. that
the crash was caused by buckling of
the wheel on the extra landing gear.
Lieut.. Nielsen, l.. S. ~, advised
Rear Admiral w. A. Moffett of the
Bureau Of Aeronautics. in Washing
ton, by wire that Fonck and Curtin
were uninjured.
Fonck was slightly scratched about
the face.
FOnck War Record Brilliant.
Capt. Fonck leaped into fame one
day late in the Spring of 1918 before
an audience Of American troops.
The American Infantry and Artil-
lery Of the LIST Division were bur.
rowed in shell holes in what was
known as the Montdidier sector, in
front of Beauvais. just after the
March drive of the Germans. Over
head they saw six German planes shot
down within an hour.
A few days later they learned that
these planes had been shot down by
one man. Second Lieut.. Rene Fonck
Of the French air~Service. France ac-
claimed him Immediately as her ace
of aces. and a few days later the ma
tons enthusiasm knew no bounds
when he repeated his feat.
Thereafter for many of the French
the war consisted in game whose
greatest interest was the rapidly
climbing score of airplanes shot down
by Rene Fonck, of his promotion to
first lieutenant and to a captaincy
and his acquisition of new medals.
The French ace is 80, blonde, UNI
married, humorist diplomat and
sportsman. He is native of Alsace
and entered the French army as an
engineer. During the war he trans
ferred to the aviation corps. After the
war he entered politics, and was
elected deputy from the department
of the Vosges at the age of %.
He avoids night clubs on the
grounds that he is "a knowing young
man." and declares that he has been
too busy to marry, although he ac-
knowledges that he has received many
proposals from young ladies' willing
to be the wife of an international
hero.
OF the attempted flight that ended
today in disaster, he said recently:
Il am making the flight for the
$25 900 Raymond Orteig prize. but
the real reason is to bring France and
the United States closer together. and
show the practicability of opening a
tranSa tlantci air route
Took Up Aviation Radio.
Clavier learned to operate the radio
in the French navy. which he joined
in 1908. After becoming chief Of a
station in 1920, Clavier left the navy
for aviation radio and worked on both
government and commercial airplane
radio problems.
He was a member Of the Radio Des
Industries, which designed and built
the set which he brought from Paris
for use on the transatla ntic flight. A
wife and three children awaited him
in Paris on his return from the flight.
Clavier was born in Paris in 1898.
Jacob Islamoff. the mechanic and
alternate radio operator of the plane,
was Russian and gained his radio
experience in the naval schools of
that country. He had been in this
country for three and one-half years
and had taken out his first natural
ization papers.
Islamoff, graduate of the Russia n
Naval Academy. served during the
war as a lieutenant in the Imperial
Russian navy. He was a radio expert
having served in that capacity on a
Russian polar expedition. For two
wears he was compass adjuSter of the
astronomical instrument departing mt
of the Russian observatory at Con
stantinople.
He had been employed on the con.
struction of the $50, the New York
Paris" in the Sikorski plant. ever
since work on the plane started.
CURTIN'S MOTHER WEEPS.
BEARDSTOWN, H.. September 81
CP.-Tears came into the eyes OF
Mrs. Molla Curtin. mother of Lieut.
Lawrence w. Curtin, t. s. n. alter
nate pilot of the ill-fated Fonck New
YorkParis nonstop airplane, wher
informed at her home here early to
day that her son had crashed in the
take-off Of the proposed New York
to-Paris flight.
1T seems as though these tears
Just have to come she said. 81 an
happy to know that Lawrence is safe
but 1t is terrible to think that two
of his companions were killed
When announcement was made that
Lieut. Curtin would attempt the trip
1 1. at
| calm assurance. said: ooh, he'll come
J through all right. never fear
She remarked this morning tina
| her prediction came true.
| News Of her sons safety was civer
TO Mrs. Curtin by the lieutenant.
brother. John Curtin. who was in
| formed of the crash by the Associated
! Press.