Evening star., 1946-10-03
By the Associofed Press

NEW YORK, OcC. AN amer
ican Overseas Airlines plane
with 80 persons aboard-three Of
them infants-plunged in flames
into the wilderness of Western
Newfoundland early today in
what may be the greatest trag-
edy in the history of CONNER
cial aviation.
The Coast Guard reported that
the possibility of survivors was very
remote. Six of the passengers were
children, IL were women.
The four -engine DC-4, en- route
from New York to Berlin, crashed
10 minutes after it left Stephenville,
Newfoundland, at 3:24 am, strik-
ing hillside 10 miles from Harmon
Field, where it refueled because the
Gander airport was closed in with
rain and fog. The ceiling at Har-
mon Field was 5000 feet and visi-
bility was 10 miles.
Three Persons at Scene.
The Coast Guard, in a radio mes
sage sent at 9:48 am, said three
persons, believed to be Newfound-
land civilians, were at the scene and
an Army searching party was at
the foot of the hill into which the
plane crashed.
The message said the searching
party had one-half mile to go. The
plane crashed 100 feet from the top
of the hill, which Is covered with
rocks and scrub trees.
The message, sent from Coast
Guard plane at the scene, said the
airliner appeared to have exploded
after the crash and that only q
tiny fragment Of the ship was visible.
There was q heavy rain at tte
time.
It was the second plane tragedy
In the Newfoundland wilds in two
weeks On September 10 a Belgian
Sabena airliner crashed near Gam
der, killing n Of the a aboard.
Stephenville Is on the west coast
Of Newfoundland, 921 air miles from
New York and approximately 225
miles west Of Gander.
No Sign Of Life.
An Air France Transport captain.
who few over the wreckage two
hours after the crash, said on ar
rival at New York that the plane
burned completely and there was no
sign of life nearby.
The Air France captain, Jacques
Charmoz, said he was at Gander,
225 miles from the
scene of the crash, when it occurred.
Il could see the glow OF the ex-
plosion before I took off," he said,
"after the takeoff we circled the
wreck. The plane hit the side of q
hill quite high up and was still
smoking.
1.-The light was poor and I could
not identify any part Of the plane.
I saw a burnt spot on the hillside.
1t is a fairly wooded hill I could
see no path cut through the trees.
The plane probably went straight
into the hill"
Capt. Charmoz said the AZ persons
in his plane, II Of them women,
caught a glimpse of the wreckage.
Another description Of the wreck
age was given by Robert Albee OF
Forest Hills, N. Y, navigator on the
French plane.
"Our plane circled the wreck at
Il 500 feet" Albee related. II could
not see the actual fire, but the whole
plane was smouldering. The fire
had died down quite bit, but there
still was glow"
The navigator said Phys were
landing or miles from the wreck
lage.
B-17 and Helicopter Sent.
At Gander officials of the airline
said rescue planes which few over
the area reported the wreckage still
was burning four hours after the
crash.
The Coast Guard dispatched .
Bit and a helicopter from Argen-
tia, Newfoundland.
There have been three 27-vtctim
plane crashes in American COM
mercial aviation. In addition to the
Sabena crash other such crashes
involved an American Airline plane
at San Diego, Calf, March 8, l946,
and q nonscheduled Viking Airline
plunge near Richmond, Va, last
May 16.
One airline employe narrowly
missed being aboard the plane when
| it crashed today. He was George
MacCall of Newark, N. j., who was
- 1SyAo 80 CII pnnn Am