Evening star., 1932-09-15
ITALY BEGINS HUNT
FOR MISSING PLANE.
DUE LAST MIDNIGHT
All Civil and Military Pilots
Ordered to Join Search for
American Nurse.
CRAFT LAST REPORTED
OFF IRELAND YESTERDAY
Fears Felt That Ship May Be
Down Some Place in Area
of Mediterranean Sea.

By the Associated Press.
ROME. September 15-Every search
ing agency under the control of the
Italian government was set to work to-
day to find the missing monoplane,
American Nurse, which had dlsap-
peared on a nonstop flight from New
York to Rome.
She was due here last midnight with
her crew of two men and woman, but
there was no report of the plane after
11:5O am yesterday when a steamer
reported sighting it AGO miles of the
Southern Coast of Ireland.
As soon as he was certain that the
fuel must be exhausted even If there
had been no accident, Gen. Italo Balbo,
the minister for air, ordered all pilots,
military and civil, on land and sea, to
search for signs of the plane or for
wreckage. Forestry workers, lighthouse
keepers, warships and merchantmen, as
we'll as the entire national police force
were instructed to be vigilant.
Doing Everything Possible.
Aviation authorities doubted that the
plane had reached Italy, but the gov
ernment notified the American military
attache that everything possible was
being done.
When darkness approached last night
the huge military airport at Clamplno
turned on its ground lights and from
dusk to dawn the finger OF a great
searchlight swept the sky. large
ground crew was kept ready all night.
It was expected that the thorough
search already under way would quickly
eliminate the possibility that the plane
might have landed or crashed some
where in Italy.
If the American Nurse is down or lest
It would be the third failure OF an
attempt to fly from New York to Rome.
In 1927 the Old Glory was lost with
three victims at sea. In 1929 Roger
Williams and Lewis H. Yancey started
for Rome, but landed in Spain.
Members Of Party.
At lis am. today the 43 hours given
as the limit OF time the American
Nurzes gasoline supply could last had
passed.
On board are William Ulbrich, pilot.
of Mineola, N. Y; Miss Edna Newcomer,
28-year-o!d undergraduate nurse OF Will
Transport, Pa, and DR.. Leon M. Plscul-l
OF OnkerS, N. l., LIie COulliidi1oci u
the expedition.
The chief anxiety was that the planes
gasoline supply might have given out
over the Mediterranean area. Reports
of ships which sighted her yesterday
over the Atlantic indicated the plane
was steering a reasonably true but
northerly course.
While the foodlights were burning at
the Ciampino Airport, those at other
fields were turned off to prevent the
plane going astray in the vicinity of
Rome.
Darkened By Eclipse.
An eclipse of the moon over Italy dur
ing the night caused extreme darkness,
prohibiting possibilities of sighting the
plane at night. The ship carried no
radio.
Among these who spent the night at
the field we're Col McCabe, United
States military and air attache to Rome,
and his assistant Capt. Francis N.
Brady.
Gen. Balbo remained ready through
out the night 10 go to the field if the
flyers arrived at Florence, where Miss
Newcomer intended to drop from the
plane in a parachute. Many people
stayed awake well into the morning,
hoping to see her.