Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-19
AIR BOARD PROBE
| IS BEGUN IN FATAL
PARACHUTE LEAP
Army Officers Hunt Reason
for Motor Failure, Caus-
Ing Forced Landing.
PILOT, IN EMERGENCY,
SKIDS FUSELAGE IN MUD
Passenger on Test Flight Jumps
When Too Low and Lands in
Tree-Plane Damage Slight.

Investigation was begun today by
board of Air Corps officers to determine
the cause of the motor failure which
resulted late yesterday afternoon in the
death of Stephen A. Forberger, project
engineer of the Fokker Aircraft Corpo-
ration, Hasbrouck Heights. N. j., in an
attempted parachute Jump from an
1 experimental type Army light bonn
! bardment plane which later made a
successful forced landing at the edge
Of the old Benning race track.
! Had Forberger remained in the plane
he would have gotten away without
scratch, in the opinion of officers who
viewed the scene Of the landing. The
pilot Of the plane, Lieut.. Harrison @.
] Croker, Air Corps, of Wright Field
Dayton, Ohio, not knowing that his
passenger had jumped. brought the
! plane down for a beautiful forced land
ing in small plowed field.
Jumps When Too Low.
Observers said Forberger left the plane
at too low an altitude to permit his
| parachute to function. His body
crashed through the branches Of a tree
! at Sheriff road and Browning street
northeast and he was killed instantly
The spot where he fell was about three
| fourths of a mile from the field in
which CrocRer landed the big twin
motored monoplane.
Lieut.. Croker, seeing that he would
! have to land in a small, plowed field
which was dangerously soft, did not put
down the retractable landing wheels Of
his plane. He feared that If he lowered
the wheels they would sink in the mud,
| throwing the plane over on its nose.
| With the wheels up, he landed the
| plane on the bottom of the fuselage.
which slid over the soft earth for only
about 100 feet before coming to a stop.
Aside from damage to the underside
of the fuselage and two bent pro-
pellers the plane was comparatively
unframed.
S. A. Wiseman, keeper of a store
close to the field in which Lieut..
Croker landed, reached the plane a
few seconds after the landing. He saw
Lieut.. Croker climb out of the pilots
cockpit at the leading edge Of the
big monoplane wing and run back to
the rear gunner's cockpit behind the
wing, where Forberger had been riding.
Forberger Found Missing.
Are you hurt?" Lieut.. Croker called
| through the side of the plane. There
was no response.
Where is my passenger" Lieut..
Croker said, when Wiseman ap-
! preached.
Wiseman replied that he had seen
something fall from the plane some
distance away.
! Lieut. Croker refused to leave the
plane until officers and men arrived
| from Boiling Field to take charge. He
then went to Boiling to report. The
plane Is being moved by truck to Boiling
Field.
Lieut. Croker and Forberger were on
! their way from Hasbrouck Heights,
where the plane was built, to Wright
Field, where performance tests were to
be conducted. They had planned to
spend the night at Boiling Field making
| the flight across the mountains by way
of the Army airway between this city
and Dayton.
Ceiling Forces Low Flight.
Because Of low clouds Lieut.. Croker
was flying between 500 and 700 feet.
with Boiling Field in sight ahead, when
his engines began to miss. He believes
that clogged gasoline feed line caused
| the trouble. Because of his low altitude
Lieut.. Croker had no time for any,
thing but the landing he was forced TO
make and could not turn to watch his
| passenger.
Flying with the wind, Lieut.. Croker
had to make full 190-degree turn and
head back the way he had been coming
TO make his landing, the small clearing
being the only open place available
within gliding distance. Army officers
who went to the scene commended
| Crocker for his skillful landing in the
limited and dangerous area available to
MIN. Lieut.. Croker has been In the
service since the World War and is re-
garded as one OF the best pilots attached
| TO the Wright Field material division
base, which conducts all performances
trials OF new Army planes.
| Forberger'S body was taken to Cas-
| ualty Hospital. There was some uncer-
| talnty at first as to his identity. since
he carried letters addressed to I. II.
owen, an associate engineer at the Fox
ker plant.
Engineer Known Here.
Mr.. Forberger was project engineer in
| charge of the development of the plane
from which he jumped He was known
here in aviation circles, having come
mere several times recently on business
In connection with the development of
Army planes. He flew here during the
summer in an experimental long-range
reconnaissance plane closely resembling
in design the light bomber forced down
yesterday The reconnaissance plane
now Is undergoing tests at Wright Field.
The bomber was developed from the
reconnaissance type to meet the Army's
| demands for fast plane to be used for
! loW-altitude attack With its twin en-
gines, streamlined into the wings, and
retractable landing wheels, which turned
up into the backs of the engine cowl-
ing, the plane is credited with high
speed and good performance. It has
tnree open cockpitS, one in the nose for
the bomber, one for the pilot and one IN
the rear for third member of the crew
who acts as radio man, observer and
gunner.
The investigating board Is composed
OF Lieuts. Stanley NJ. Umstead Louis M
Merrtck and William A. r. Robertson
of Boiling Field.