Evening star., 1927-05-04
TWO PLANE DEATHS
I BRING TOTAL TO 10
Comdr. Page and Lieut.. Pol
| lard Killed Near Norfolk
in Latest Disaster.

The wave of fatal aircraft accidents
which has swept over the Navy in the
mast 13 days claimed two more lives
Yesterday afternoon in the vicinity OF
Norfolk and brought the total to 10.
The latest victims were Lieut..
Comdr. Hardy B. Page. a student
flyer, and Lieut.. Russell V. Pollard, an
exnerienced airman- of many years.
who fell with their plane near the
snot where the semi-rigid atrship
Roma crashed several years ago and
took large toll.
Comdr. Page Hved at 1900 Connecti-
cut avenue, where his wife and 13-
year-old daughter, Ann, survive.
While the exact cause of the crash
probably never will be known, the re-
port of the board of inquiry which
will arrive at some conclusion had not
reached Washington today, and In its
absence only vague accounts OF eye
witnesses were available. These ac-
counts differed in some respects, but
summed up they indicated the plane
began a spiral to earth from an alti-
tude of about 1000 feet.
Goes Into Side Slip.
1t appeared that the craft was
head for a normal landing on the wa
ter. but at about 500 feet it went into
a side slip, and before the pilot, who
was reported as being Lieut.. Pollard,
could bring the plane back into con-
troll, 1t struck the ground at about
800 feet from the water. The impact
caused the plane to burst into flames
and the bodies of the two airmen
We're burned badly. The force of the
impact, however, is believed to have
- %l,n Tlf
and spared them the torture of being
trapped in the blazing plane.
Until a few days ago, Lieut.. Comdr.
Page had been on duty in the Navy
Department here. A longing to quail
fy as an aviator has been with the
officer through his service with the
fleet at sea and in the legal branch
of the Navy here in Washington.
Comdr. Page was born in Emporia,
Kans., in 1880, and was appointed TO
the Naval Academy from Idaho in
1909, graduating in 1913. He saw his
first naval service aboard the Destroy
er Cushing and later was transferred
to the battle fleet, being assigned to
the dreadnaught Virginia.
Served OF Irish Coast.
During the World War, Comdr. Page
served with the destroyer force off
the coast of Ireland on the Manley.
In 1925, he was ordered to Washing
ton from the Pacific feet and assigned
as an aide to Rear Admiral Campbell,
Judge advocate general.
He obtained leave from this assign
nnent to take a preliminary instruction
course in aviation at Hampton Roads.
air station. 1t had been his desire for
some time to qualify as a pilot and to
obtain transfer from the legal
branch of the service to that of areo-
nsutics.
The funeral will be held from the
receiving vault in Arlington at 3
o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Capt. c.
H. Pickins, Chaplain's Corps, will off,
ciate, and fellow members of the class
of 1913 at Annapolis will be honorary
pallbearers.
Lieut.. Pollard was born in Lower
Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, in 1895 and
was appointed a pay clerk in 1917,
week after the declaration of war. He
was assigned to duty in the Boston
Navy Yard, and later to the Air Sta
tion at Squantum, Mass.
He resigned as a pay clerk soon
afterward and enrolled as seaman
for aviation, and was promoted to an
ensign in May, 1918, and the next
month was commissioned navai
aviator.
Lieut.. Pollard saw service with the
naval aviation forces overseas during
the war, and since then has con-
tinued flying, acting as an instructor
at various aviation posts.
Resided in Norfolk.
His mothers home is in Boston,
while his wife and son reside in Nor
folk.
The first of the four fatal air
crashes occurred off Old Point April
21, and cost the lives of Wilbur f.
Bingham and Richard w. Kennison,
naval student aviators.
Three days later, Lieut.. Comdr. Noel
Davis and Lieut.. Stanton II. Wooster
met death at Messick, near Langley
Field, when their big privately owned
transatlantic plane crashed into a
bank after it was forced to land short
ly after the take-off owing to exces-
sive weight of tie machine.
Seventy-two hours later four airmen
in a naval plane-Lieut. Victor f.
Marinelli, Lieut.. George w. Lehman,
Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Lo.
rem E. Poyner and Machinist's Mate
George NJ. Michaels-were killed off
New Point when their plane was
struck by lightning and was precipi-
tated into Chesapeake Bay.