Evening star., 1951-06-05
Morningside
Air Crash Laid
To Fuel Lack
Colonel Tells Court
Cos Shortage Could
Cause Plane to Veer
By J. B. Zotmon
Stur Stoff Corrasnondanf

bAlIlMOfLE, June 5.-An An.
drews Field Force Base officer sale
today he believes the pilotless B-2s
plane which crashed into a Morn.
|ingside home last April 8, killing
three persons, had veered of its
course because of lack of fuel.
The testimony came from Col
Robert Collins, commanding Of
ficer of the Maintenance and Sup.
ply Group at the base.
This was the first official rea-
son advanced for the sudden
plunge to the ground of the twin.
engine bomber after its controls
had been set to take it over
Chesapeake Bay and the three.
man crew had parachuted te
safety.
First Defense Witness.
Col. Collins was the first defense
witness called as the trial of the
planes pilot, Capt. Paul v. Chap.
man, 80. on manslaughter charges
entered its second day before
Judge w. Calvin Chestnut in Fed.
|eral District Court here.
AS today's hearing opened
States Attorney Carlyle Ian.
caster of Prince Georges County
rested for the prosecution.
Assistant United States Attor-
ney Frederick j. Green, jr., de-
tending Chapman, because the
latter was on duty at the time
then moved to dismiss the charges
Landing Gear damned.
Mr.. Green said yesterdays tes-
timony showed the plane was
abandoned over the field after its
crew could not shake loose the
landing gear because it was be-
lieved the craft would maintain a
level flight. He contended there
was no evidence to prove gross
negligence.
Judge Chestnut overruled the
motion pending introduction of ali
evidence in the case.
Col. Collins advanced his the
ory in response to a question by
Judge Chestnut. Witnesses yester-
day said they believed there was
enough fuel in the plane tank to
fly it another half hour when it
was abandoned.
Gauges Termed Unreliable.
According to Col. Collins, how
ever. fuel gauges are unreliable
when the supply of gas is low.
AS a result of the tragedy, Col.
Collins said the fields operating
procedure for abandoning planes
has been changed so that they will
be abandoned in the future only
in more isolated areas.
In answering another question
by Judge Chestnut, Col. Collins
said even if the plane had had
an automatic pilot there was no
assurance that a faltering engine
would not have thrown the craft
out of control after the crew
jumped. He also testified there
was not enough left of the plane
after the crash to determine what
caused it to crash.
Mr.. Green read portions Of a
transcript of the conversation be-
tween the control tower and the
plane in which the tower at first
the planes crew at
tempt to land the craft.
According to the transcript, the
tower recommended that If the
landing were made the crew
should put on shoulder harness
to avoid injury.
The answer from the plane, the
transcript showed, was that the
crew had no such equipment and
therefore a landing was too dan
gerous. The planes answer then
said the crew planned to jump.
The planes answer to the tower
was identified as coming from
Capt. Chapman and his co-pilot,
Capt. Robert T. Sander, 80.
Killed last April 8 when the
pilotless plane plummeted into the
home Of M/Sergt. Samuel r. Sny-
der were the two Snyder children,
Kay, 6, and Rene Denise, 8 weeks,
and their uncle, Erwin N. Guyer
Of Crawford, N. j.
CO-piIot Testifies.
Most Of yesterdays hearing was
devoted to testimony from Capt.
Sander.
States Attorney Lancaster CEN
tered his fire on the decision to
the plane over the base.
Other witnesses included Col.
Glynn F. Shumake, deputy opera
tions officer at the base, and Capt.
James w. Leyland. pilot instruc-
tor.