Evening star., 1947-06-19
15Die in Crash
OF Constellation
In Eastern Syria
8 Passengers and 7
Crew Members Killed
n Others Are Safe
by The Asseela.ed Press

NEW YORK, June 19.-Fffteen
persons of 81 aboard the Pan
American World Airways' Con-
stellation, the Eclipse, were killed
early today when the giant air.
liner crashed at Meyadine, In
Eastern Syria, while trying to
make a forced landing. the air
line announced.
Eight of the dead were passen-
gers. Seven were crew members
The remaining % passengers and
crew members were described as
safe, although an earlier report said
three were seriously injured and
seven were less critically hurt.
None Of Dead Passengers American.
None of the dead passengers was
an American, the company said
Neither their names nor those OF
surviving passengers were available.
Pan American said the only de-
tails of the crash, which occurred
while the plane was en- route from
Karachi, India, to Instabul, Turkey,
were contained in brief message
from Damascus which said the
planes No. engine caught fire
and the craft was destroyed at 2
am. Damascus time, pm. tEDT)
yesterday.
The campany said information
from its Damascus Office was that
the three crew members who sur
vived were Purser Anthony Volpe
and Stewardess Jane Bray, both of
New York, and Third Officer Eugene
w. Roddenberry of River Edge, N. j.
Other Members of Crew.
The other members of the crew,
announced earlier by Pan American
and presumed to be those killed,
were:
Capt. Joseph Hall Hart, jr, In
dian Chase Park, Greenwich, Conn.
First Officer Robert Stanley Nc
Coy, Flushing, Queens, N. Y.
Second Officer tnavigator) How
ard Thompson, Jackson Heights,
Queens, N. Y.
First Engineer Robert B. DON
nelly, Bayside, Queens, N. Y.
Second Engineer w. E. Morris,
Brooklyn.
First Radio oficer Nelson C.
Miles, Port Washington, N. Y.
Second Radio Offlcer Arthur O.
Nelson, Brooklyn.
First reports of the crash led to
fears that it was the clipper Amer
ica, which left New York June 16
with party of American publishers
and officials aboard for the inaug-
ural fight of Pan-American's COM
mercial round d-the-world service.
The plane arrived safely at Istanbul
from London, however.
Capt. Hart, who was born April
10, 1907, in Norwood, Pa, set world
record in January, 1945, when he
completed u trips across the South
Atlantic in 13 days and Is hours. A
graduate of the University of Gin
cinnati in 1880. he attended the air
corps flying school until 1881. He
became captain in 1885 and a
master pilot in 194l,.
A Pan American spokesman in Is
tanbul said the plane was the same
one which turned back at Gander,
Newfoundland, on the outbound
flight early this week, after develop
ing engine trouble. 1t had been
delayed two days.
James H. Smith, vice president OF
Pan Americans Atlantic division,
disclosed the crash to the American
newspaper executives in Istanbul
less than an hour after their ar
rival
The publishers passed up an Off
cial program prepared in their honor
and stayed at a midtown hotel to
await full details of the accident.
In Cairo, flight control officer
at Almaza Airport said he had been
in contact with the Eclipse during
It's fight from Karachi. He said that
about two hours before the crash
the plane radioed that one engine
was ablaze. A few minutes later a
radio message said the pilot was
trying to crash-land the craft. 1t
was the last word the Cairo officials