Evening star., 1934-05-21
PROBE Of PLANE
CRASH BEGUN AS
BURIAL IS PLANNED
Bodies of Two of Three VIC
tins Recovered From
Chesapeake Bay.
TRIPLE FUNERAL RITES
TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY
Naval Academy Sends Ships to
Retrieve Wreckage-Bodies
Mangled.

Grief-stricken relatives today pre-
pared to bury the victims of the air.
plane tragedy at Bay Ridge, Md,
Saturday, when the monoplane of
Ralph Bangs, Washington realtor
plunged into Chesapeake Bay, killing
Bangs and two others, W. Carlton
Power, his brother-in-law, and NAL
colin Zahn, Powers cousin
The bodies of Bangs, who piloted
the plane and Zahn were recovered
from the bay yesterday by fishermen,
using oyster tongs and graphing
hooks. Powers body had been dragged
from the wreckage soon after the
crash Saturday
A triple funeral will be held We'd
nesday from the Calvary Methodist
Episcopal Church, 1863 Columbia
road. at IL am, with the Rev. Ver-
non N. Ridgley, pastor of the church,
and DR.. George Farnham, chaplain
of the Reciprocity Club, of which
Mr.. Bangs was a member, officiating
Mr.. Bangs body will be inferred at
GlenWood Cemetery, while those of
Power and Zahn will be buried at
the Washington Memorial Park.
Investigation Launched.
Meanwhile. an investigation into
the cause of the crash was being
launched by the Department of Com
merce AeronauticS Branch. M. P.
Hanscom, local inspector for the de-
partment, was in Annapolis examin-
ing the wreckage of the plane.
dragged aboard a Navy barge early
yesterday.
Hanscom a few weeks ago had
examined the same craft after it had
been repaired from damages in the
collapse during a windStorm of the
hangar in which it was stored at
Beacon Field, Alexandra. The Fed
eral airplane inspection law requires
that damaged ships be passed on by
an Inspector of the Department of
Commerce after repairs have been
made.
Spectators on the shore, where
more than 700 members of the Wash
ington Board of Trade were holding
their fortieth annual shad bake, said
the plane looped once and failed to
straighten out, nose diving into the
water, which was 13 feet deep at the
point. Some said that as the plane
looped it appeared as though some
fragments of paper were being thrown
overheard 1t is believed this may
have been fabric torn from the wing
The bodies recovered from the
wreck were horribly mangled and it is
thought they may have been killed
outright by the impact. The plane
Itself was shattered to fragments and
the beach for a distance of miles
was Strewn with pieces of Wreckage.
The Naval Academy dispatched a
tug, two motor launches and a float
ing derrick to the scene of the wreck
at daybreak yesterday to retrieve the
wreckage. The operations were in
command of Boatswain Thomas o.
Kirby. U. S. N. One of the bodies
was seen to slip from the twisted
mass as it was hauled aboard
After removing the remains of the
plane, Machinists Mate Harry w.
Raymor, U. S. N, donned diving equip
ment and dropped to the bottom from
one of the motor launches. After ex-
ploring the area for three hours. the
Navy crew gave up the search and re-
turned to Annapolis.
Reward Offered.
Later. H Clifford Bangs. brother of
one of the dead men, posted a $50 re-
ward for the recovery of each body.
and Immediately several small boats
put out with graphing hooks and oys-
ter tongs in search of the bodies. That
of Zahn was pulled from the water at
noon by Charles and Gus Bembe and
Walter Tyler. 1t was found hooked
to the gas tank of the plane.
The body of Bangs was recovered
100 feet away by T. S. Rawling and
his son. Irving c. Rawling; Antony
Hallek, Jack Kirby, colored, and Cliff
ton c. Rawling
A group of relatives was on the
shore when the two bodies we're
brought in. Clifford Bangs was on
the small boat which found his
brother.
In difference to Ralph Bangs the
Grand Chapter meeting of the Sigma
Lambda Nu Fraternity which was to
have been held in Baltimore today,
was postponed for four weeks
Bangs was a member of Alpha
Kappa Chapter of the fraternity in
Washington. Following a motion to
postpone the meeting the ritual of
the organization was read in memory
of Bangs. About so delegates from
10 Eastern cities were here for the
meeting.
William Linberg of Schenectady. N.
Y, president of the Grand Chapter,
announced the postponed meeting
will be held June II in Philadelphia.