Evening star., 1950-10-19
Crashes

NSOl4lA1uCu E1OIu II 81 TdSCJ
that the pilot had radloed back to
the base that his comrades had
spun into the river.
Officers at Andrews told a re-
porter the site of the crashes was
about the proper point for the
tight-formation jets--among the
fastest in the world-to be losing
altitude for the Andrews landing.
At the low altitude. they specu-
lated altimeters probably were of
little value and the heavy haze
obscured vision pilots ordinarily
would rely on in such a situation
Saved by Trailing Position.
The officers said the fact that
1t. BarcuS was in one of the trail
ing positions behind the formation
leader possibly gave him the split
seconds time necessary to pull up
as he struck the water. The Poto-
mac River is about a mile wide and
80 feet deep at that point.
Until this afternoons announce
ment, 1t. Kent had said there were
no official theories about what
might have caused the crashes.
when you see the condition of
that wrecked plane cat Aden and
know the pilot got out alive, you
know anything can happen"
1t. Kent said it had been impos-
sible to determine locations of the
planes or directions they were
heading when they began to fall
because they were not following a
specific course
They simply were told to fly
over PatuXent. Md. on the hour
long flight. Returning. the officer
explained, they could have fol-
lowed any of number of circuit
Gus routes. They left Andrews at
11:10 I'm. and were expected back
shortly after 1910 pm.
Wide Search Area Laid Out.
The Andrews spokesman said
officials had laid out a tremen-
dous searching area which ex-
tended south to Fredericksburg,
Va. $50 miles from Washington
north to Brunswick, Md. (about
40 miles from the District, west
to the Blue Ridge Mountains and
east to the Chesapeake Bay.
AS early as 8 o'clock this morn
ing searching planes were on the
flight line, but were unable to take
off until 1890 because of the
heavy fog shrouding the country
side. Planes participating in the
search, 1t. Kent said. included:
Eleven CATS, B-25s and B-26s
from Andrews, manned by spe-
cial observers; at least &c light
ships of the Civil Air Patrol, tax
ing off from a number Of small
airports; two helicopters from
Quantico. and at least two planes
of the Air Forces Air-Sea Rescue
Service, from Westover Field,
Mass.
1t. Barcus was found staggering
near his plane moments after the
crash on the farm of c. B. Bear
by the residents of two nearby
farms. Charles w. Croushorn, 40,
and S. G. Wettzel, jr. The two
rushed the pilot 4 miles to the
town of Nokesville, where a volun-
teer fire department ambulance
took him to the Quantico hos
pital.
Mr.. Croushorn, who watched
the plane crashing to the ground,
said it swerved over his farm
house, cut the wooden fence of an
adjoining farm "a inches from
the ground and plowed into the
field of the Bear farm.
Pine Trees Clipped OFF.
"The field was full of pines, and
the plane clipped them right off,"
he said. Then it jumped creek
and plowed for about half a mile
before it stopped.
when I got there the pilot
was staggering around. Hissplane
was cut in half just about at the
cockpit. You wouldn't figure how
any one could come out of it."
1t. Barcus asked the farmers,
What happened? Where am
70" Mr.. Croushorn said. During
the trip to Nokesville, he added,