Evening star., 1940-11-03

saw q sharp streak Of lightning
which appeared directly ahead and
in line with the airplane and saw
the airplane 90 straight down.
Similar testimony was quoted
from others, including Mrs. Doro-
thy Everhart, who from three miles
away was momentarily blinded by
the brilliance of a lightning flash
Just a little bit ahead Of the air
plane" and a few seconds later
heard "an awful roaring"
The awful roaring" apparently
resulted from an explosion of the
planes fuel tanks at the instant 1t
ploughed into the ground at a 80
degree angle, the board said. Burned
bits of paper scattered over a wide
area, charred parts Of the plane, in
cluding a tire, and other evidence
indicated fire ragged briefly after the
impact, apparently being put out
soon by the heavy rain falling then.
Plane Broken by Impact.
The impact and the explosion
broke the plane up into more than
a thousand pieces" and scattered
them over such a wide area that it
was difficult to obtain much salts
factory evidence from them, the
board stated. The main facts estab-
lished by examination Of what was
left of the plane were that 1t
crashed with the throttles wide open
and that the propellers had been
"revved up" to excessive speed-ap-
parently by the sharp angle Of the
dive.
THE testimony Of a great many
witnesses" the report said. agreed
on a sequence of a flash of light
ming, Immediately followed by the
roaring sound of the planes motors
apparently ending upon impact with
the ground.
"A flash of lightning close to an
airplane in flight, and less than 80
seconds later, the crash of the same
airplane into the ground, are two
events Of so much importance taken
together that they cannot be dis
missed as a mere coincidence
"The optical effect of lightning,
or of any sudden and bright light,
is well known. If the pilots
had been looking forward through
the windshield at the time the flash
occurred in front of the plane, the
result could have been so severe as
to produce virtual blindness through
out the dive of the airplane to the
point of impact.
ut is obvious that the sudden
binding of a pilot might seriously
interfere with his efiicient control
of an airplane in flight '"'
Conclusion Theory Advanced.
IF the lightning were Of a nature
to produce a strong pressure wave,
the pilots might have suffered from
acoustical shock or conclusion of a
severity depending upon the prox-
unity of the lightning to the cockpit.
Experience has revealed that such
pressure waves have produced severe
conclusion upon human beings
which might result in unconscious
ness
THE mechanical effect of light
ming has been known to smash in
the windows Of buildings even
though the discharge itself may
have passed some little distance
away. Although the cockpit WIN
dows were designed. installed and
approved to withstand any reason
able impact or pressure load, it ap-
pears entirely possible that light
ming flash near the nose of the plane
might result in their being smashed
in.
The plane must have entered a
torrential downpour of rain at the
time of the fash of lightning in its
vicinity, and If the cockpit windows
had been smashed in, the pilots
might have been subjected not only
to the violent impact of flying pieces
of glass but also to withering
stream of water striking them with
all the force of the airplane's speed
through the air of 1S0 miles an hour
and upwards"