Evening star., 1947-01-06
5 Killed, Il Injured
In 3 Plane Crashes
In Sudden Snowsform
BY the Assoeiafed Press

In Sudden Snowsiorm|
BY the Asseeiaied Press
Five persons were killed and
81 injured in three plane crashes
last night during a sudden snow
storm that engulfed large areas
of the East Coast.
The worst accident was at Car
mel, N. j., where Nationwide Air
Transport Service, Inc, passenger
plane crashed in a wooded area,
killing the copilot and two pas
sengers and injuring 10 other per-
sons.
A small private plane bound from
Mount Pleasant, Mich, to Florida
crashed in Scott County, Va, kill
ing its two occupants.
At Jones Beach, bathing resort
near New York, 16 persons escaped
serious injury as an American Air
lines DC-3 two-engine plane made
a crash landing on the beach few
feet from the water. Only the pilot
and co-pilot were injured and the
stewardess and 13 passengers were
unhurU.
Sn0wstorm Called Freak.
The freak snowstorm, accompanied
by rain and sleet, covered an area
estimated bv the Weather Bureau
in New York to extend as far as
$50 miles from that city.
Only one person on the plane that
crashed at Carmel escaped injury as
the ship SKINNED over a farm house
and ploughed through SO. yards of
woodland, leaving sheared trees In
its wake. lbss saz
The dead were: Co-Pilot Percy w.
Van Noy, 80, of Olympia, Wash;
Joseph Shutz of New York and Sid
ney Herscoyitz, 20, of Brighton,
Mass.
Among the injured was Willie
Pep, world featherweight boxing
champion. Pops condition was re-
ported good" at a Vineland hos
pital. He suffered injuries of the
1clI dllklC d1lO ChlCoI.
Pep had been scheduled to fight
in Havana December 81 but his
manager, Lou Viscusi, said Decem-
ber u that an injury to his right
ankle had forced postponement.
At the time he said the injury might
force postponement of a January
% title bout with Mel Tarleton In
London.
Flying From Miami.
The plane was en- route from
Miami to the Newark Airport.
Passengers extinguished small
fire and the fuselage remained in
tact though the left wing was torn
off and the nose crumpled in the
crash.
Mrs. Frances Rosenthal, SO, of
New York, passenger who received
minor injuries, said the pilot, Capt.
Robert Sheker, Is, of Port Dodge,
Iowa. was attempting to reach an
| airport at Millyille, N. j., 3 miles
from Carmel, after the plane had
been unable to make scheduled re-
fuelling stops at Raleigh. N. c., and
Richmond, Va, because of weather
conditions.
The young couple killed in the
Virginia crash, Richard A. Neff, 20.
and his wife Elsie, 10, of Rosebush,
Mich, left the Mount Pleasant
Airport Saturday morning on an air
tour sponsored by the Gulf Oil Co.
They were en- route to the Miami
air show.
Fuel Supply Low.
The crash landing at Jones Beach
came when the plane had only al
five-minutel fuel supply left. The
pilot dropped flares and managed to
spot the beach through the heavy
storm. The pilot, Capt. j. E. Booth,
of Nashville, Tenn, suffered q lip
laceration and the co-pilot, Thomas
E. Hatcher, also of Nashville, lacera-
tions and a possible conclusion.
The landing took place a few hours
after the plane left LaGuardia Field
for Los Angeles. Forced back by the
sudden storm after he was unable to
land at Washington, D. c., Capt.
Booth managed to get the plane
down on the beach.
Capt. Booth said that with only
minutes gas left he circled as low
as he could and dropped flares.
One flare revealed a breaker and
then he finally got a glimpse Of the
beach, he said in an interview at
the Meadowbrook Hospital In
Hampstead, N. Y, today.
Caught Glimpse of Surf.
The pilot said that If he had
missed that one glimpse Of surf,
! we would have been a missing plane
missing for good. !"
"It was either land-or else" he
said.
The ship landed on narrow
strip of sand, with one wing tip
only 10 feet from the surf. The
wings cleared all sand humps and
the ship although digging con-
siderable hole in the beach was not
seriously damaged.
The stewardess, Margaret Murphy.
LOST.
WRIST WATCH. mans; Pierce make;
black face. gold numerals, red sWeep-see-
ond hand; case orange gold, back steel;