Evening star., 1937-02-10
Airliner
Continued From First Page.)

before they could be completed.
The II occupants, announced by
United Airline officials, were:
Rodgers Meyer, Riogewood, N. J.
M. Lorge, Los Angeles.
Mark Fontana, 81. millionaire
manufacturer and yachtsman. San
Francisco.
j. F. Gilmore, Los Angeles.
r. Margaroni. San Bruno, Calf.
H. B. Friedlander, Los Angeles. -
John Grennan, sr., prominent real
estate man, Berkeley, Calf.
His daughter, Gertrude, a socially
prominent bride-to-be
Pilot Tommy Thompson, one Of the
Vests veterans
Co-pilot Joe De Cessaro.
Stewardess Ruth Kimmel.
Cause Not Yet Known.
The cause Of the accident-prior
to last night 80 persons had died
since December Is in Far West trans
port crashes-cannot be determined,
officials said, until after the plane has
been salvaged.
Airport attendants were mystified
when the plane, coming into the air.
port from Los Angeles. obtained land
ing directions and then few on over
the bay.
Watchers at the airport followed its
flying lights until it suddenly dived
into the bay with a crash audible
miles away.
A five-hour search OF the bay by
planes and boats followed before the
wreckage was found. A section of
the rudder and the tail end of the
fuselage protruded above the surface
Both were stove in. indicating the
transport hit the shallow water right
side up with such an impact it was
turned completely over.
The plane lay on its back, pointing
toward shore. as though it had been
circling to return to the airport
While the search went on, thousands
Of curious, also friends and relatives
of the II persons on board, thronged
to the airport.
mo one at present has the slightest
idea of what caused the crash" said
an airlines spokesman.
Coroner William Crosby Of San
Mateo County said the bodies would
be brought to Redwood City, south of
the airport and on this side of the
bay, for an inquest.
Instructions for Landing.
Over Belmont, only a few miles
south Of his destination, Pilot Thomp-
son received radioed instructions from
Dispatcher Theodore Martin to use
the north-to-south runway at Mills
Field. which is bounded on the east
by the bay. That was shortly before
9 o'clock.
Thompson a minute later asked for
use Of the east-to-west runway and
the dispatcher answered Eyes"
The big ship crossed the field and
headed out into the bay.
"She came in from the south and
then for some reason she circled
around east and started back south"
r. E. Neghirbon, an express company
employe, related.
THE plane had no landing lights
turned on.
II saw her get lower and lower and
said to another fellow, She's going to
hit There was big 'wham' where
she struck and disappeared.
I'VE got boat and went out there,
but couldn't find any sight of her"
The 12-ton craft struck the water
where the depth is 10 feet at point
about mile from shore.
Airport workers rushed to the edge
Of the water and peered helplessly
into the night.
Among the shore watchers was
Michael Gilmore of San Francisco,
brother of j. Frank Gilmore, one Of
the passengers. He had gone to the
airport to meet the plane.
Searching boats, kept near Mills
Field just for such an emergency,
speeded more than 60 men to the
crash scene.
Highway damned by Autos.
Word of the accident spread quickly
and hundreds of automobiles jammed
the Bayshore Highway bordering the
airport. Many of the cars contained
friends or relatives of those aboard
the sunken plane. Scenes of hysteria
were frequent.
Persons not having business inside
the airport enclosure were barred at
the main entrance.
Spotlights from searching boats cut
through the blackness of the hours
after midnight. Flood light trucks
from the San Francisco and South
San Francisco Fire Departments sent
sheets. Of light pouring across the
water amid the roar Of their en-
gines.
The trucks were stationed along the
seawall at the waters edge, and their
batteries Of huge lights illumined
the bay for several hundred yards
out from the shore.
A light mist. intensified - It WIS