Evening star., 1950-09-05
CAB Begins Inquiry
In Plane Crash That
Killed 13 Near Utica
BY ths Assoeiaied Press


wreckage strewn over a farm pas
ture was all that remained today
Of a DC-3 airliner that carried
13 persons to their death. Ten
injured holiday travellers were in
hospitals.
The Robinson, Airliner crashed
into treetops and burst into flames
about two minutes after taking off
yesterday from the new Oneida
County airport. 1t was bound
for Newark, N. j.
A Baltimore family of five and
the three-man crew were among
those killed.
Witnesses said the pilot, Capt.
Harold Carter of Freeville, N. Y,
apparently tried to bring his dis
abled plane down for an emer-
gency landing.
But the craft hit the trees,
caught fire and plunged to the
ground. Capt. Carter was killed.
wing Il Torn On.
One witness said a wing dug
into the ground and the plane
appeared to spin around on it as
1t ploughed across the field. The
left wing was torn off.
Four persons were thrown out
as the plane hit. Three crawled
through escape matches and pas
sersby pulled other survivors from
the flaming wreckage.
The Civil Aeronautics Board
began an investigation last night.
1t was reported unofhcially that
q piston of one engine blew about
30 seconds after it left the ground.
The plane was too low to return
to the field.
Charles Johnston. "a, Of Drake
Hill, Staten Island, said he saw
the plane about 100 feet overhead
seconds before it crashed. 1t ap-
peared to be "wobbling" and one
Of its two engines was dead, Mr..
Johnston said.
NO hySterla Reported.
Mr.. Johnston, who had been
working in the yard of a relatives
farm home, raced to the wreckage
with his cousin, Robert Hesler, %.
Passengers were climb bing,
throug an escape hatch" he said.
The plane was a raging inferno.
It was too hot to get close
There was no screaming or hys-
terra, Mr.. Johnston said. TT
seemed as if every one was just in
q trance. One soldier collapsed
but we got him going again. He
kept saying, my head, my head '"I
Mr.. Johnston and Mr.. Hesler
said they helped five or six" per-
sons to the rural road nearby.
Ray .Jadwizyc, on whose farm
the plane crashed. tagged cars to-
rush the injured to hospitals. He
said he. had heard "thumping
and changing" and looked up to see
the plane plunge to the ground.
Most of the dead were burned
beyond recognition. They were
identified through jewelry and
personal papers.
Charred luggage and personal
effects were scattered over the
field. Only the right wing and
the tail of the plane were not
burned.
A rural firehouse at nearby
Westmoreland was turned into an
emergency morgue for the IL
bodies taken from the wreckage.
The co-pflot, CAPT. Frank A.
Llewellyn. 80, of Ithaca, N. Y,
died later in hospital.
Only One Seat Empty.
Just one seat was empty when
the Inflated airliner took off with
20 passengers. including home (
ward-bound vacationists and seven s
servicemen. That empty seat be- s
longed to Ernest Kapps of Rome,
N. Y, who got to the airport five
minutes late.
Among the dead were Seymour
G. Epstein, his wife and three
children of Baltimore. They were
ending a months vacation that
started in Florida for the parents
and 4-year-old Betsie, while the
two boys were at camp at Wood
side. N. Y. The parents and
Betsie had come north to accom-
pany Warren, 13, and Bertram, 9,
home from camp.
One Of the Mortified crash wit
nesses was j. R. Hoff, who had
watched his 18-year old son, Army
Recruit j. r. Hoff, jr. board the
plane to return to Fort Dix, N. j.
The father sped to the crash
scene, found his son, who had suf-
fered minor burns, and drove him
to Grifflss Air Force Base in Rome.
Priest Gives Last Rites.
A priest who was driving nearby
heard the crash and ran half a
mile across fields to administer
the last rites of the Catholic !
Church to the victims. He was
the Rev. Justin Grabowski, pastor
Of st. Georges Church, Utica.
The crash occurred about mile
and half east of the airport, |
which was opened only last week.
Robinson inaugurated service at
that time. 1t was the firms first
fatal crash in the five years it
has been operating.
Beside the Epstein family and
the pilot and co-pilot, others who
died in the crash were:
Merwin M. Kindig, "a, Ithaca,
the planes steward; Joseph E. !
McGrath, Paterson, N. j.; Sergt.