Evening star., 1936-08-15
RITES FOR FLYERS
3T0BE HELD TODAY
Survivor of Cornfield Crash
to Testify Before
Board.
Ey the Associated Press.

Ey the Associated Press.
LANGLEY FIELD, Va, August IS.
Air Corps officers went ahead to-
day with plans for the funeral Of
three Army flyers, killed IN the crash
of their bomber near New Kent
Court House, Va, late Thursday
night.
Services were to be held in the
post chapel here at l pm. today for
Lieut.. Willis 8. Marvin, Riverside,
Calf; Pvt. John J. Mayher McKees-
port, Pa, and Pvt. James E. Critten-
den, Richmond, Va.
Six pail bearers were detailed for
each victim. An honor guard of 26
men from the 96th Bombardment
Squadron will stand at attention dur
ing the services. Crittendon's body
was to be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery, Mayher's body will be sent
to his home.
The burial place for Lieut.. Marvin
had not been selected early today.
Inquiry to Be Launched.
An inquiry board was to be formed
to find the cause of the training
flight crash If possible. Sure to ap-
pear before 1t was Pvt N. D. Finn of
McGuffey. Ohio sole survivor. Finn,
he said, kicked open bomb trap and
leaped in his parachute just before the
tMartin) bombing plane buried itself
in a cornfleld near the Pamunkey
River and burned.
Finn said a motor "choked" at
5000 feet and the pilot in charge,
Lieut.. Marvin, ordered the three
others to bail out" before trying
to land.
The somersault of the plane as it
Tipped on its back after plunging
into the ground threw Mayher 25
feet into the corn from his seat in
the observers cockpit at the rear
His clothes and body were in flames
when H. B. Robinson. a tenant farmer,
raced there and threw earth over him.
The bodies of Marvin and Crittenden
were nearly consumed by the fire.
Leveled OFF Too Flat.
r. A. Burton of Beaverdam. Va,
former licensed pilot. said the
wreckage showed the plane "leveled
off too fiat" at slowing rate of
speed and nosed over when near
the earth.
The pilot dropped flares and other
wise indicated his intention of landing
and saving his ship by lowering the
retractable landing gear. Flaps on the
lower wings, lowered to check speed
In landing, also were down The pilot
circled the field once or twice before
trying the cornfield landing. said c. P.
Crump and his wife. farm couple.
Finn told Crunp that he had to
light his way through the bomb hatch.
Il had trouble getting the door open,
but kicked and kicked until it finally
came loose" he was quoted as saying.
His parachute opened and brought
him to ground in trees bordering the
field. His mouth was cut and he was
muddy and wet" but otherwise un-
harmed, the Crumps said.
Crump carried Pvt. Finn by auto
noble IL miles to Providence Forge to
reach a telephone.
ambulance Loses Way.
The ambulance sent to the scene
"lost its way" and did not arrive until
near 5 o'clock this morning, State
Officer Harry Williamson of West
Point said. In the meantime Finn
waited, head in hands, beside the
smouldering wreckage.
He hoped, he confided to the
motherly Mrs. Crump, to reach his
mother by telegraph before she read
newspaper accounts.
HE was just a kid" the farm
woman said. He was very quiet"
and seemingly shaken and disinclined
to discuss the crash which had so
suddenly snuffed out lives of his three
comrades. Williamson said.
The corn Immediately behind the
spot where the bomber struck was not
touched, indicating that it had fallen
almost straight downward.
Crittenden was reared in Roanoke,
although his father now lives in Rich
mond.
II knew" sobbed his grandmother,
Mrs. c. E. Murray of Norwich, this
would happen"