Evening star., 1945-11-05
Seven Ships, 6 Planes
Hunt Il Missing on
Lost ATC Liberator
q Survivors Of Clipper
Accident Go to Honolulu;
Two From D. G. Area
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
HONOLULU, Nov. Seven
ships and six airplanes searched
the Pacific Ocean $50 miles east
of here today for IL men and a
woman missing in the forced
landing at sea of an ATC Liber-
ator Saturday.
Meanwhile, two escort carriers
steamed toward Honolulu with %
survivors of the forced landing of
a Pan American Honolulu Clipper
and with eight survivors and the
bodies of seven victims one a
woman-of the crashed Liberator.
(The passenger list of the Clip
per. released in Honolulu, con-
tanned the names of two WASH
ington residents, Comdr. Clarence
Caldwell. 66l6 Western avenue,
Chevy Chase, Md, and 1t. How
ard E. Nelson, U. S. N. R., 2618
S. Adams street, Arlington, Va.)
Capt. S. E. Robbins of Palo Alto,
the Clippers pilot, made such "a
masterful landing" on the smooth
Pacific after two of his planes en-
gines failed that none of the 10
crewmen and 13 passengers was in
jured.
They were picked up a few hours
later by a merchant tanker, the En-
glewood Hills, which transferred
them to the baby fattop, Manila
Bay, for the voyage back to Homo
lulu-600 miles distant. The Clip
per was being towed to Honolulu.
IL Officers on Plane.
The Clippers passengers included
II naval officers and two civilian
techpicians.
Capt. Fred C. Richards, San Fran.
cisco, plotting another Clipper which
left Honolulu 30 minutes after Capt
Robbins, circled the downed sea.
plane for five hours until the Engle.
wood Hills came to the rescue. Tht
forced landing was made in pre-.
dawn darkness. Capt. Richards, hav.
ing consumed much of his gasoline
in his vigil, returned to Honolulu
with his eight passengers.
The escort carrier Casablanca wa.
taking the eight survivors and sever
bodies from the crashed Liberatol
to Honolulu. Six destroyer escorts
the TillS, Roberts. Hemminger, Sny.
der, Etten and LaneS-were among
the ships searching for the IL per
sons still unaccounted for.
One Woman Rescued.
Among the 81 passengers and crew
of six were two women, one a ci.
villain, the other WAC. The ATC
which has not announced the name.
of any one aboard pending notifica.
ton of relatives, did not say which
|of the women was rescued. 1t wa.
presumed that all aboard except thu
one woman were military personnel
The Liberator survivors wer,
picked up from one life raft. Earliel
the other RATS had been sighted il
the vicinity and it was hoped tina,
the missing IL would be found saft
on them.
At San Francisco, Pfc. Melvin j
Smiley, Lykens, Pa, flight clerl
aboard another Liberator which cir.
cled for time over the crash LANDED
transport, said Army and Nav,
planes sped to the scene and dropped
life RATS, life jackets and other res
cue equipment neal, the wreckage
He said the big plane broke in tw,
after hitting the sea and that h
saw only three survivors.
Passengers Named.
The passenger list of the Clippe
contained the following names, il
addition to the two from the Wash
ington area:
Lon Dewey, civilian techniciar
Concord, Conn.
Kenneth Davis, civilian techni
clan, Akron, Ohio.
1t. Comdrs. Bradford Brown, Ed
win Harrett. Joseph Hindman an
William Tobin.
Navy Its. Preston Easterbrook,
Edward Thoenes, John Bende,
James Miller and Dan Drecher.
The Navy, which released tn
passenger list, did not supply hom
addresses for any OF its officers.