Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-30
TAKE-OFF CRASH
KILLS ALLEN IN
AVIATION DERBY
Benny Howard Arrives in
CIeVeIand-Not to Go On
to New York.
SIX OTHERS SPEEDING
FOR CLEVELAND GOAL
Jacqueline Cochrane, Royal Leon
ard Forced Down-Amelia Ear
hart and Turner Aloft.
The Air Races.

Benny Howard. competing in the
Bendix Trophy race, landed at the
Municipal Airport here at lao
pm. first of the contestants to
reach Cleveland. He said he would
not go on to New York in an at
tempt to set a new transcontinen-
tai record.
Six racers hurled across the sky to-
day in the annual Bendix Trophy
Burbank to- Cleveland air race,
while death and disappointment
lay behind them.
Cecil Allen was killed a mile from
Burbank Airport when his plane
failed 10 rise sufficiently for
clearance.
Mrs. Jacqueline Cochrane was down
at Klngman, Ariz. Royal Leonard
sat disconsolately at Wichita while
mechanics rushed to repair his
plane. Leonard returned to Wich-
ita with a broken oil line after
refuelng there and leaving for
Cleveland.
race, withdrew before the start.
OF the six in the air. two had been
unreported since they hurtled away
from Burbank. They were Roy o.
Hunt and Russell Thaw.
Amelia Earhart also left Kansas City
at 1:18 pm.
Col Roscoe Turner and Earl Ortman
were reported past Albuquerque.
BY the Associated Press.
UNION AIR TERMINAL, Burbank,
Calf, August 30-Death claimed &C.
Gil Allen early today as he followed
eight other planes roaring toward
Cleveland and New York in the an
nual s12,500 Bendix Trophy race.
Allen, 33-year- old trans-Pacific fly
er, was killed when his Gee Bee plane
crashed a mile away from the termi-
nal. apparently never having gained
altitude after diving down the fog
bound runway.
Meanwhile the eight other flyers,
including such prominent aviation
figures as Amelia Earhart and Col.
Roscoe Turner, sped eastward. una
ware of the tragedy behind them.
Aliens speedy craft grounded in a
field just off Lankershiem boulevard
in North Hollywood, blowing a deep
furrow in the ground before it was
demolished and its wreckage scat
tered for 500 feet.
No Time to Escape.
The pilot obviously had no time to
save himself, so quickly did his plane
hit
Allen first few to fame when he and
Don Moyle attempted nonstop fight
across the Pacific in 1881. Battling
storms and fuel shortage, they took a
month to fly from Japan to Tacoma,
Wash, after being forced down on a
bleak Aleutian island and then flying
to the Siberian coast for paint thin
ner, which they used as fuel.
Today's fight was his first expert
ence in a transcontinental speed dash.
His ship, the Spirit of Right, was
sponsored by a religious group.
Allen. born in Clearwater, Okla,
but raised in California, was dubious
about taking of. His departure was
delayed some time while he inspected
trouble in his gas tank.
His plane, a tricky job, was never
under complete control after he left
the ground, witnesses said.
Two eyewitnesses of he crash, Fred
n-l Clor,p Won UTinE1o roid tho chiY,
came low over a power line. A wing
was dipping and Allen shut of the
motor.
A crowd estimated at 10000 per-
sons saw the take-offs
Favored by Weather.
Fairly good weather conditions were
promised the pilots after they once
cleared the mantle Of fog here, and
1t was predicted that a time of close
to nine hours for the trip of those
continuing TO New York could be ex-
pected, which would shatter Col. Ros-
coe Turner's cross-countr. record Of
10 hours minutes.
Miss Jacqueline Cochrane, carrying
b97 gallons Of gasoline, missed the
runway by 300 feet at the tall end,
and came so perilously near failing
to clear the field, the FIRE department
rushed down the length Of the air.
port behind her.
Col. Turner, flying a rebuilt Wedell-
Williams, capable Of more than 300
(see BENDIx, Page a.