Evening star., 1939-02-21
Two Pilots Die
As8NavyP|anes
Crash in Fog
U. S. Training Planes
Are Trapped Above
Pensacola
B. the Associated Press.

PENSACOLA, Fla, Feb. 21.-
Trapped in a dense fog, eight Navy
planes were wrecked and two pilots
killed on routine training flight
last night.
Rain washed away the fog at
dawn today, disclosing the full toll
to officers of the Pensacola Naval
Air Station
Six student flyers escaped by bail
ing out in the darkness in their
first parachute jumps. -Four pilots
landed safely in South Alabama.
1t. G. F. Presser, ST., Brazilian
Navy officer receiving regular train
ing here, died when his plane
crashed and burned at Cory Field,
where land planes are quartered.
The body of 1t. q g. N. M. Os-
tergren was found in his wrecked and
burned plane near McDavid, Fla,
about IS miles north of Pensacola
The fog kept his fate mystery un-
til after dawn, when scouting planes
took to the air for a search of the
entire section
Waited for Jumps.
1t. j. P. Monroe, aide to the COM
mandant, said there was nothing
anxious ground crews could do ex-
cept wait for the pilots to jump. The
planes, standard naval single
scatter Boerings, with high landing
speed that makes it difficult for
them to alight on soft ground, were
not equipped with radio. The planes
cost upward of $4,000.
Four of the deserted ships fell on
the Government reservation. Trucks
were sent to bring in the wrecked
planes as each was located
In addition to It. Presser, another
Brazilian officer. 1t. q. g. A. C. P.
Horta, was in the group. He leaped
to safety.
The two Brazilian officers were
In training under a long-standing
naval policy of aiding South and
Central American countries to pre-
pare their fighting forces, said those
close to the air station.
These two, reported to be the only
foreign officers now in training here,
were on their final test flight along
with the other students. They were
flying in squadron five, which is
equivalent to concluding examina-
tion OF their fitness as flyers.
Nine advanced students and three
instructors took off early last night
for a routine after-dark flight.
Not long after they were aloft a
soupy fog rolled in from the Gulf
OF Mexico. The well-lighted landing
f1eld was blotted out. Thousands
OF feet high, the flyers were faced
with the choice of hunting an air.
port that was not fog-bound or fly
ing until their gasoline was ex-
hausted and jumping.
Lit. Presser's widow, Mrs. Binorah
Presser, was living here during his
training period.
1t. Ostergren, 26, was a native of
st. Paul, Mimi, and a 1885 gradu-
ate of the Naval Academy. His
widow lives here, and his father
lives at Sardis, Miss.
Six Used Parachutes.
The six student pilots who reached
ground safely by parachute jumps in
the inky darkness we're:
1t. q. g. Alfonso C. T. Horta
OF Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 1t. q. g.)
E. G.. Osborn, 26, of st. Helena,
Calf; Cadet G.. E. Chalmers, 25,
Rutland, VT; 1t. q. g. Thomas D.
Cummins, 26, of Washington, D. c.;
Cadet c. w. Harbert, %, of Bristol,
w. Va, and 1t. q. g. Richard E.
Harmer, %, OF Seattle, Wash.
Three instructors and a student
pilot headed north to outrun the
: fog. 1t. w. G. Jackson of Vienna,
ILL.,; 1t. j. H. Brett of Savannah,
Ga, and Cadet J. E. ". Whitener of
High Point, N. c., landed safely at
the Atmore, Ala, Airport. Cadet
A. G. McDonough of Newark, N. j.,
made safe landing at Greenville,
Ala, with brother, Army Reserve
Pilot F. E. McDonough, as a pas
senger. His ship was equipped to
carry two.
1t. Monroe said wreckage of the
eight planes was the air stations
greatest equipment loss in actual
air maneuvers. Naval authorities
in Washington estimated the craft
cost upward of $4,000 each.
The station lost about $1,00O,OO0
worth of equipment during 1926
hurricane, but the planes were not
In the air at the time.
1t. Comdr. A. j. Isbell, commander
of Flight Squadron 2 and recipient
of the Schiff air safety trophy, was
named head of the board of in
vestigation and inquest which will
report on the accident.
Other members of the board were
not announced pending arrival of
Commandant Capt. Ray Fitch, who
was en- route here from New Orleans.
Cadet McDonough said Greenville
was the first spot of ground" he
sighted after he got out of the fog
covered area. He landed on the
Greenville emergency field with the
aid of only the port boundary lights.
He already had dropped all his
emergency landing flares trying to
find the Navy's airport at Pensacola.
All their planes, save one crashed
within 10 miles of Pensacola. The
ship from which 1t. Cummins leaped
fell into the back yard of the home
OF Mrs. S. r. Likes at Myrtle Grove,
suburb. Another sank in Escam-
bia Bay.
It's unfortunate as it can be-" 1t.
monroe said in discussing the acci-
dent. Its just one of those things"
ne SAID no blame could be at
.ool1eo 70 any one. Coastal fogs
'see PLANES, Page A-5)