Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-03
TEN DIE INSTANTLY
AS PLANES CRASH
Movie Thriller Ends in Trag-
edy When Flaming Craft
Fall Into Sea.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
SANTA MONICA, Calf, January s.
The placid Pacific rolled gently today
over the watery sepulcher Of seven Of
ten men who yesterday met flaming
death 5000 feet above the sea in cater
ing to public whim. The charred and
shattered bodies of the other three
were in a morgue.
They were making motion picture
thriller based on the disappearance of
Capt. Alfred Lowenstein, Belgian flnan-
cier, from q plane crossing the Eng
lish Channel on July 5, 1928.
Suddenly the planes whipped to-
gether almost head-on. Gasoline tanks
burst and flared and in the twinkling
of an eye the combined wreckage shot
seward.
Bodies Thrown Out.
Three bodies were catapulted from
the flaming hulks during the plunge,
and fell into the water away from the
volcanic spout Of spray, fire and smoke
which marked the crash Of the planes
on the surface.
Within a few minutes only q thin
film Of oil, flattening out the white
topped waves, bore evidence of the
tragedy. No more bodies appeared and
no wreckage came to the surface.
The dead:
Kenneth Hawks, 80, Hollywood, mo-
ton picture director, husband of Mary
Aston. Aim actress. Body not re-
covered.
Max Gold, 90. Hollywood, assistant
director, married. Body recovered.
Conrad Wells, 81, Hollywood, camera
man, married. Body recovered.
George Eastman, 90, Santa Monica,
can1eraman, unmarried. Body not re-
Ben Frankel, IS, Hollywood. assistant
cameramen, unmarried. Body re-
covered.
Otto Jordan, %, Hollywood. assistant
cameraman, unmarried. Body not re-
covered.
Tom Harris, IS, Hollywood, property
man, married. Body not recovered.
Hank Johannes, "a, property man,
unmarried. Body not recovered.
Ross Cook, %, Santa Monica, pilot,
unmarried. Body not recovered.
Hallock Rouse, 90, Santa Monica,
pilot, unmarried. Body not recovered.
Parachute Jumper Escapes.
Jacob Triebwasser, parachute jumper,
who had expected to leap into the sea,
had not entered the scene when death
stepped in as director.
He and his pilot, Lieut.. Col. Roscoe
Turner, and two companions, Fred
Osborne and Bert White, motion pic
ture technicians, scared away un-
scathed.
Triebwasser was posing for his jump,
waiting for the word from White, who,
responsible for the timing Of the leap,
was watching the camera planes when
the tragedy occurred.
L. w. O'Connell, head cameraman of
the Fox Film Corporation, for which
the picture was being made, was sta
toned in speed boat on the water
under the planes, prepared to pick up
Triebwasser after his jump.
Died in Crash.
He sped his boat to the spot and
picked up the bodies of Gold, Wells
and Frapkel. No water was found in
their lungs, indicating they had died
In the crash.
Mary Aston was Frustrated when she
hnally was told of her husbands death.
She is under the care of a physician in
her Hollywood home
Howard Hawks, brother of Kenneth
Hawks and brother-in-law of Norma
Shearer, screen actress, escaped death
because a whirn caused him to change
his mind after he had gone to Clover
Field with the intention of going up in
one of the planes.
Pilots Were Competent.
j. G. Hall, inspector of the aeronau-
tics branch Of the Department of Com
merce, started an investigation. He is
stationed at Clover Field, the airport
from which the planes took of.
G. H. Tanner, president of the Tanner
Aircraft Corporation, described both
pilots as competent men of long expe-
rience. The Tanner company had fur
nished the planes and the pilots for
the picture work.
Tanner said the ships were in good
condition when they left the Held.