The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-12-28
BIG AIR LINER
/ REPORTED MISSING.
tContinued nom Page u
Asked Landing Beam

kAS VAAAA0 Woo NO9 AACAC ~ Jew
p. m. A few minutes before that
time Blon radioed the Burbank
airport for q 'localizer" beam, the
type Of radio beam used to assist
planes In landing.
Not until two hours later was
there another word from the plane.
Then Blon reported he was over
Ventura, rs miles northwest Of Los
Angeles. United Air Line ground
operators, who had been trying
frantically to reach him, tried 70
get him back, but his radio was
silent after that.
A binding fash was emitted from
the power lines near SINH, which
Is near Ventura, last night, ana
the lines went dead.
The fash was reported by A. Har-
rington, q rancher. It lighted the IN
terror OF his house, then his lights
went out. But Harrington placed
the time Of the fash some time be-
fore Blom,s last radio report from
over Ventura and authorities be-
lieyed that precluded the fash hav-
ing been caused by the crashing
Goeing plane.
Harrington heard no sound OF q
crash. Nevertheless, his informa-
ton was being Investigated care
fully.
The air lire made public the
names OF the passengers, but could
not supply their addresses. one OF
the passengers was the son OF q wee
president Of the Grace steamship
Company.
Two Major Tragedies
Oficials were alarmed particularly
because Of the past month there
have been two major air tragedies
In the west. A western air transport
plane disappeared between Los An
geles and Salt Lake City and no
trace Of 1t or its seven occupants
have been found. A mail plane dis
appeared en- route to Tacoma and
the bodies of its pilot and co-pilot
were not located in the Utah Wilds
until yesterday.
A triangle formed by Los Angeles,
Ventura and the Mojave Desert en-
closed the area where pilots believed
the liner was down. AL hope was
concentrated on the desert where
Blom, veteran pilot with years OF
experience on the coast, could have
brought his plane down safely. The
coast route from San Francisco Is
with deep valleys, offering little
comfort to q pilot under the neces-
sity Of an emergency landing. There
are. however, q number OF emer-
gency landing fields.
Something Happened
Blom's failure to land at Burbank
after asking for "localizer beam"
and then his failure to explain why
he did not land down indicated
something happened to prevent him
even trying 10 get the ship In, pilots
said.
Among the nine passengers were
Everett Ford, Jr., and his wife. Ford
is a Standard Oil official and son. Of
a vice-president Of the Grace
Steam steamship Line.
Others aboard included:
Robert Mclean, Burbank, co-pi-
lot.
Miss Yvonne Trego, "a, Alameda,
stewardess.
A. L. Marcel, IS, Los Angeles,
diamond broker.
John Korn, Ell Centre.
H. s.. league, Los Angeles.
Mrs. w. A. Newton, address un-
known.
Alex Nova, Ell Centre.
Miss E. Valance, Los Angeles.
M. P. Hare, San Francisco bus
mess man.
Blom, 80, lives in Burbank.
United Air Line officials said that
although the weather was stormy
last night, flying conditions were not
bad enough to ground all planes.
Another United Air Liner landed
within few minutes Of the sched-
uled arrival Of the missing plane.
At that time visibility was good,
officials said. Company dispatchers
said that federal inspector had
checked all the logs for the day and
found no unsafe flying conditions.