Evening star., 1941-04-08
Wreekage Of Missing
Navy Bomber Sighted
Off Cape Charles
Two Officers and 8 Men
Aboard Flying Boot
Sought OFF Coast
3, the Associated Press.

the missing ship,
The Navy Department today
confirmed discovery of the
wrecked Navy patrol bomber ap-
proximately 30 miles north of
Cape Charles, Va. A destroyer
OF the Atlantic feet reported re-
covering one floating life raft,
one uninfiated life raft and va
rious pieces Of wreckage No
survivors of the two officers and
eight members of the crew were
located The destroyer is drag
ging the vicinity in an attempt
to grapple the fuselage.
Hope that the plane and it's men
were safe was felt for a time on the
basis OF reports from Navy and
Coast Guard sources in Washington
and New York that a ship resem-
bling the missing craft was seen
operating safely in New Jersey
waters. Later the Atlantic City
Coast Guard station identified this
plane as one of those searching for
the bomber.
The Cape Charles wreckage was
sighted from a Navy plane at
tached to a plane carrier.
LifebOat Reaches Scene.
Coast Guard headquarters here
said one of their lifeboats, equipped
with two-way radio, had reached the
scene Of the wreckage and had re-
ported that no sign of life was visi-
BILE In the area. The boat was from
the Metomkin Inlet station.
A Coast Guard plane few over
the scene and radioed that a yellow
life jacket was floating near the
wreckage.
Messages received from the plane
did not say whether the flyers had
seen any survivors of the two officers
and eight enlisted men who were
aboard the bomber when she took
of from here for the Naval Air
Station at Quonsett Point, r.
The wreckage was sighted about
two miles east of Great Machipoleo
Inlet, of Hog Island, Cape Charles,
Va
The naval plane which sighted
the wreckage was not able to lano.
The pilot flashed word that he also
sighted a life raft but could not
tell If any one was on it.
The Coast Guard Immediately dis
patched the cutters Dionne and Rush
TO the scene as we'll as three life
boats from stations near the scene
of the crash
The Lakehurst IN. J0 Naval Air
Station reported that its biggest
blimp, the TC14. was about 80 miles
from the scene and proceeding there
at once.
1t is believed that the giant plane
crashed into the sea after running
into fog shortly after taking of.
The plane, a PBY-l, left here
at 8:35 am. yesterday for the
naval air station at Quonsett Point
on transfer flight. It was sched-
uled to make the trip in four hours.
Ten minutes after taking off. when
the plane probably was 30 to 40 miles
along, it made routine flight report.
The next word received-the frag-
ment down at ses"-was picked up
eight hours later by the radio station
here. While that came in on the
flying boats wavelength ii was
otherwise unidentified, possibly be-
cause of the transmission difficulties
which garbled most of the report.
King in Charge Of Search.
Rear Admiral E. J. King. COM
mander of the Atlantic fleet. took
charge of the search which covered
the whole length of the planes
route
Admiral KING ordered naval yes
sells on patrol duty at sea to join
in the hunt.
Lighter aircraft were ordered
out from the Lakehurst sta
tion and Coast Guard headquarters
in New York directed various surf
stations from Norfolk to Rhode Is
land to search the sea in their area.
Cutters Standing BY.
Six planes in cnarge of Comdr.
Stephen Galloway took of at s am.
from Cape May, N. j., naval station
in search of the missing bomber and
maintained radio communication
with the station and Navy head
quarters at Washington. Seven
Coast Guard cutters and surf boats
were standing by at North Wild
wood and Cape May Point and the
cutter Hohawk at Cape May harbor.
Three seaplanes took off at Salem,
Mass, at dawn to aid in the search
and four blimpS left Lskehurst
shortly before 6 a m. today to search
the sectors between Montauk Point
and the Virginia Capes.
The crew of the LII, one OF Ave
blimps sent out from Lakehurst,
sighted a mattress floating in the
water 80 miles southeast of Cape
Henlopen, Del. Other mattresses
have been seen in the area recently,
but the crew sought to learn II the
one sighted bore Identification
marks
Officers and Men Listed.
The missing flying boat was piloted
by Ensign G. N. Blackburn, naval
reservist. of Lenni Mills, Pa, with
Ensign G. w. Marson of Cambridge
City, Ind, as co-pilot. The two were
assigned to transfer the plane to
Quonsett Point after it had been
based with the Nays utility squad
ron here for several months.
With them on the flight were these
enlisted men:
T. F. Mueller, chief photographer,
San Diego, Calf; L. c. Luton, radio
man. first class, Little Cypress, KY;
F. w. Grove. aviation machinist's
mate, first class, Dilwin, Va; l.. L.
Gurganus, radioman, second class.
Parrish, Ala; w. Broadhurst, svia-
ton machinists mate, third class,
Albany, N. Y; F. McElrath, aviation
ordnance man. third class, New
burgh, N. Y; B. A. Taylor, seaman,
second class, Rutledge, Ala, and A.
p. Fasano. seaman, second class, Port
Washington, Long Island.