Evening star., 1938-05-17
PLANES MOBILIZE
IN MASS SEARCH
Transport With Nine Aboard
Believed to Have Crashed
in Mint Canyon.
picture on Page A-2.)
(Picture on Page A-2.)
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Assoe'a Press.
LOS ANGELES, May 17.-Mercy
planes modified in q giant aerial
search today for a new SIC, 900 Lock-
heed transport. feared crashed with
nine persons on a fog-shrouded peak
of the Sierra Madre Range near Los
Angeles.
The transport. flying to st. Paul for
delivery to Northwest Airlines, took Oh
from Union Air Terminal at 1:40 pm.
(4:40 pm, E. s. T) yesterday and
was last heard from a few minutes
later above rugged Mint Canyon.
Aboard were:
Sidney Wiley, Lockheed test pilot
in charge Of the flight.
Fred Whittemore, st. Paul, North
west Airlines vice president and 60.
pilot.
Henry Salisbury. st. Paul, Northwest
Airlines oficial, his wife and two
children.
Mrs. Carl B. Squier, "a, wife Of Lock-
heed's sales manager.
Lola Totty, "a, Glendale, Calf,
Lockheed stenographer
Evelyn Dingle, Northwest Airlines
employe.
Ground Party Sets Out.
A ground party of c. c. c. enrollees
and forest rangers set out at dawn
and two National Guard planes sought
to penetrate the mist that blanketed
the rugged range over which the plane
was last reported.
The rest Of squadron of searching
planes massed at the Union Air Ter
minal waited for the fog to lift.
I'VE are standing by. just waiting
for a break in the weather." said Capt:
Claude Morgan of the Los Angeles
County sheriff's aero squadron. I'VE
are convinced the plane is down within
a radius of 50 miles from Burbank"
Jess Sewer, a ranger located 6 miles
southwest of Mount Gleason, said his
station, at an altitude Of 1850 feet,
was blanketed in fog 50 dense he could
see no more than few yards.
Over Mint Canyon the clouds
dropped down TO 1000 feet.
Nearly two dozen planes were mob
ilized by the sheriff's aero squadron
and commercial airlines promised ad-
ditional aid for an intensive hunt.
Weather reports of ceilings as low as
1000 feet in the mountain area min
imized hopes for early discovery Of the
missing ship.
Capt. Morgan, President Robert E
Gross of Lockheed and Joseph Mar
riott, Bureau Of Air Commerce In
spector, organized the search.
No Hint Of Disaster.
No word came from the transports s
two-way radio system after the take
of yesterday. Pilot Wiley had COM
pared schedules with Pilot L. D. Carl
son of Western Air Express, who left
q few moments later on q regular
flight, but Pilot Carlton said he had
no radio contact with the other craft
after they were in the air.
Forest rangers atop Mount Gleason
heard the strong drone Of a planes
motors passing above the clouds at
an estimated altitude of 5000 feet.
That was practically on the planes
projected course. Pilot Wiley was
understood to have planned to keep
visual contact with the earth until
he reached Daggett in the Mojave
Desert, then fly on the controlled radio
beam to Las Vegas, New, his first stop.
With 500 gallons Of fuel, the twin
engined transport could have kept
aloft for about IN hours at cruis-
ing speed of 230 miles an hour.
A Lockheed a." 1t was sister
ship to that in which five Polish air.
men are engaged in leisurely 16,500-
mile flight to Warsaw.
Last January 10 q Northwest Air.
lines Lockheed crashed In the Bridger
Mountains in Montana, killing 10 per-
sons.
Pilot Willey's route over the Sierra
Madre Range was short cut" COM
mercial lines skirt the edge Of the
range, flying northwest to saugus,
then turning East up Mint Canyon.
They use the radio beam the entire
distance.
Quickly changing weather condi-
tions]broken cloud banks which
Joined into . solid blanket-were be-
leved to have trapped the high-speed
transport. The flight was not q sched-
uled commercial trip.
Iockheed omcials said the plane
would not have proceeded beyond Las
Vegas, where It was to be delivered to
the air line.