Evening star., 1936-12-09
Inventor of Autogyro Among
Victims as Only Three
Survive Crash With Ship
Few Minutes Off Runway.
FORMER STATE OFFICIAL
OF SWEDEN IS KILLED
Roofs Are Ripped Off Two Houses
as Airliner Heads Into Fog.
Wreckage Burns Furiously as
Crumbled Wing Hangs From
Structure Near Airdrome.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CROYDON, England. December g.
Fourteen persons, among them Juan
de la Cierva, the autogyro inventor,
met sudden. flaming death today in
the crash Of K. L. M (Dutch) air
liner just four minutes of the runway
at Croydon Airdrome.
Three survived. with varying in
juries. They we're the German pas
senger. Walter Schuberk; the wireless
operator, Won Bemmel, and the stew
ardess, Fraulein Won bon Gertman.
The condition of the man was grave;
that of the stewardess, who leaped
from the craft before it caught fire,
was not dangerous.
Trapped by twisted steel and flames,
De Ia Cierva died with the former
Swedish secretary of state, Admiral
Arbid Lindman, and u others, includ-
ing two Of the crew. No Americans
were aboard.
IL Aboard Airliner.
There were II persons aboard the
airliner. The *. L. M" announced
the other dead as:
Baron Gottfried Meyern-Hohen-
burg Of Germany, who is the former
husband Of the Viennese actress, Luli
Deste. She is due to leave Germany
Tor America tomorrow and the baron
had planned to see her before she de.
parted.
! Charles Robert Dickson, prominent
Swedish banker Of Stockholm.
- Pearson, Briton.
- Wegelius. a Finn.
- Van Arie, Dutch.
| - Donkelaar, Dutch.
DR. Kurt Hoene and Mrs. Hoene,
Polish.
Miss - Lipsey, South African.
- skemp, British.
Capt. Hautzmeyer, pilot.
Engineer Verkerk.
Heads Into Heavy Fog.
The plane, heading into a heavy
fog which cut visibility to little more
than 20 yards, ripped the roofs on
two houses in nearby PlIrley, swerved
across street. sheered of a large
tree and finally embedded itself in
an unoccupied house. The engine,
ripped from its mountings, smashed
through the front wall.
No pedestrians on the street were
injured.
The Dutch plane, a Douglas, fog.
bound two hours with four other
/ planes headed for cross-channel air.
ports. finally took of and safely
cleared the boundaries of the field. Il
had barely cleared the first row Of
suburban homes surrounding the air.
drome. however. when it crashed.
Wreckage Burns FuriousIy.
The wreckage burned furiously, one
crumbled wing of the machine hanging
grotesquely from the third house. while
other parts of the plant blocked the
roadway.
1t was the most disastrous air crash
in England this year, and the second
in 1886 in the same locality. August
10, the Imperial Airways airliner Velox
crashed nearby killing four.
De la Cierva was en- route TO
| Amsterdam ana Berlin on q business
trip. Admiral Lindman was on his
way home after representing the
Swedish Masonic Lodge at bicente-
nary ceremonies at Edinburgh.
A woman living nearby said:
Il heard a crash, and, running into
the street, saw the plane had crashed
on the roof of an unoccupied house.
It burst into flames at once and the
house caught fire.
Il understand three people we're
taken from the plane and removed
in ambulances."
Another woman gave this version:
Il heard terrific crash and thought
something had hit my house.
Il ran out and saw a huge plane
burning, with the flames shooting up
from the wreckage.
1T was awful The heat was 50
terrific We could not get near"
Juan de Ia Cierva, inventor Of the
|