Evening star., 1932-01-31
TRAINING BOMBER
LOST FIVE HOURS
Night Flying Experience at
Langley Field, Va, Causes
Complications.

Night-fying training for lombard
ment pilots at Langley Field, Hampton,
Va, ended with unexpected complica-
tions for all concerned a few nights ago
when one of the big ships was lost for
five hours, according to a report re-
ceived here by the War Department.
While the lost pilot wandered on,
chasing airWay beaconS over the hori-
zon. another bomber was sent out to
drop flares over places along the route
scheduled to have been taken by the
missing ship in an effort to determine
whether it had crashed.
Finally. in a driving rain, after the
hangers had been closed and the field
personnel had turned disconsolately to-
ward quarters. the missing plane ap-
peared out of the darkness and landed
with a story Of search for home which
was complicated by the appearance OF
lights where they were not expected and
a total absence of lights where the wan
dering pilot thought there should be
lights
Among Number Sent Out.
The big plane, flown by Lieut..
WyClifTe T. Steele, 96th BOmbardment
SQUADRON. with Lieut.. H G. Montgom-
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men aboard. was one of a number OF
planes sent out at lO-minute intervals
to cover a course which should have re-
quired so minutes of flying over the
peninsula.
After Lieut.. Steele had been gone an
hour returning pilots were questioned.
Another hour passed and fellow officers
were alarmed for the safety Of the miss
ing plane Another hour passed with
yNlo
drop flares over isolated areas along the
course After large part of the course
had been covered, rain so heavy as to
interfere with observation drove the
searcherS back. AS the field personnel
decided to turn in in preparation for a
real search as soon as the weather lift
ed the missing plane appeared.
Lieut. Steele said that he had reached
the Dismal Swamp area ahead of
schedule and CirCled to kill time. He
then turned back in the direction OF
Langley Field, picking up the flash OF
what he took to be the Langley Field
revolving beacon low on the horizon.
Heading for this beacon, he discovered
that the lights of cities and towns in
the vicinity Of Langley Field were not
where they should be- He feared that
fog had rolled in blOtting out the lights
of the communities. all along the water
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far ahead and headed for it, but found
nothing to identify its location.
Water Followed Two Hours.
He set a compass course back to the
southeast and finally came upon body
of water, which he followed for two
hours without picking up trace of a
recognizable landmark. Turning back
to the north again, he once more picked
up beacon lights and, recognizing them
as airWayS beaCOnS, kept on the course
until an intermediate Department Of
Commerce lighted landing field ap
peared. Here he landed and found he
was near the Potomac River at the
town of HayneSville, Va. He pumped
gas from reserve tanks into the upper
wing tanks and headed back to Lang
ley to meet, not with criticism. but
with commentator for having kept his
head under trying circumstances and
for skill in saving plane and personnel.
The two enlisted passengers did not
know what the flight was all about until
the forced landing was made at Haynes
vile They thought they had merely
happened to get in a plane which was
making a remarkably long night flight.
Lieut. Montgomery, the co-pIot, said
he was not worried in the least, because
it was his first night flight around
Langley and he was lost after the first
few minutes.