Evening star., 1945-12-17
Army Experts
Probing Crash
OF 'kixnaster'
Wreckoge Of New
Bomber Inspected
| Near Oxon Hill

An Army Board Of Inquiry to-
day began investigating the
crash Of the Air Forces new
Douglas XB-42 or "Mixmaster"
bomber, which fell yesterday in
a field near Oxon Hill, Md, after
its crew OF three parachuted to
safety.
The bomber was to have been the
principal feature Of a memorial
demonstration at Kitty Hawk, N. C..
today, the 42d anniversary Of the
Wright brothers first flight there.
Experts today were on the scene
OF the crash examining the wreck
age Of the radically designed plane
with which Douglas Aircraft and
General Motors hoped to revolutions
ize airplane manufacture design and
air transport performance.
Experts Inspect Wreckage.
Maj. William E. Dinsmore of the
Boiling Field Aviation Accident
Board inspected the wreckage. He
was accompanied by Maj. Jay r.
Hackman, another member of the
board, and Capt. Fred D. Van
Valkenberg, recorder, who directed
Army photographers.
Capt. Philip ]. Curtis, legal on
Ger, checked the situation as to any
claims for damages that may bS
made against the Army. The board,
which is headed by Col. Jean Jack.
Is expected to make its report to-
morrow.
The plane flew here from Iong
Beach, Calf, on December In 5
hours and II minutes, averaging 49,
miles an hour.
The "Mixmaster" took of from
Boiling Field at pm. yesterday. Lit.
Col. E. j. Ascani was at the con.
trolls and with him were 1t. Col,
j. M. Laney and Maj. G. L. Hayduk.
Motors Stall, Men Jump.
In few minutes Col. Ascani sig
nailed Boiling Field he was coming
in. Then he banked away. The
planes motors stalled, and Col.
Ascani told his companions to Jump.
Maj. Hayduk jumped at an altitude
OF 200 feet, Col. Laney at 800 feet
and Col. Ascani succeeded in Jump
ing from only 400 feet, hardly room
enough for his parachute to open,
the War Department reported.
The plane fell among trees on a
farm owned by William E. Miller,
furniture dealer at Eighth street
and Pennsylvania avenue Sc. Col,
Ascani jettisoned the propeller gear
box at the rear of the plane by a
special decorating device to prevent
the blades from striking men bailinr
out. 1t fell in a little cemtery next
to st. Ignatius Catholic Church.
A door of the plane landed q
quarter OF a mile away near st.
Barnaby's Episcopal Chapel. The
wreckage was strewn for hundreds
| OF yards in a line so feet wide.
Dozens OF tree tops were clipped Of
by the hurting fuselage.
| G. 81. Goen, engineering represen-
tative of Douglas Aircraft, Robert
McCrae, Washington representative
of the company and w. w. Lands,
crew chief for Douglas, inspected tho
wreckage today.
Two years work and more than
81 900, 900 had gone into this proto-
type of future planes. they said.
They referred all inquiries to Ed
ward F. Burton, chief engineer Of
Douglas, to whom they had been re-
porting. Mr.. Burton was in Kansas
City to sell subsequent production Of
the plane to one of the transport
lines.
Over the telephone Mr.. Burton
gave his idea of what had hap
pened, derived from several reports
telephoned to him.
"The pilot was coming in to land"
said Mr.. Burton, "and he tried to
get down his landing gear. This
landing gear is also of revolutionary
design and while it has no drag
when tucked away, it increases the
drag of the plane threefold when it
| is down. The pilot got it part way
down and could get it no further.
Pilot Is Blamed.
II haven't talked to the pilot but
from those who did talk to him I
learn that he didn't use a supple
mentary emergency device on the
plane to lower the gear when trou-
BILE develops. At any rate, with the
increased drag he banked and
climbed from 600 to 1900 feet.
"He apparently forgot to open the
shutters to cool off the Allison liquid
cooled engines. 1t was like driving
an automobile up a long mountain
climb with the shutter in front of
your radiator closed.
lone engine quit before he mo-
ticed how hot they were. As under
stand it, he must have feathered one
prop and tried to correct the tenn
perature on the second engine. Be-
fore he could do so that engine
stopped. He signaled his two COM
panions to jump. They jumped
safely before he remembered the
cordite ring that blows of the pro-
pellors. He blew them off, then
jumped himself.
1--WE fell certain that the only me-
chanical difficulty was that with the
/ landing gear which might have been
corrected if the pilot had been aware
of the emergency device.
Zone thing the accident showed
us in that men can jump safely with
those two propellors feathering in
the tail I talked to an air force
general about 1t by telephone and
he was elated. It was one Of the
things that always bothered US
about the design of the plane"
Lawyers Guild to Hear
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