Evening star., 1952-04-05
Plane
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man said the plane missed an ap-
proach to runway No. 4.
The spokesman said the control
tower instructed the plane to
pick up altitude again, swing to
the right and circle until it got
further instructions.
An eyewitness, Irving Roth
baum, 81, said he saw the low
flying plane coming out of the
east. Suddenly it swooped down
and thundered into the city like
a fire bomb, he said.
Feels House Shaken.
Mrs. John Hughes, "a, a nearby
resident, said I'VE felt the whole
house shake and then there was
an explosion. I heard people
shouting orders, Get out of the
houses! Get out of the houses!
I ran"
Fred A. Woop, a metalworker
who was standing on the street,
said, II saw the plane come down
and it looked as if the wings
folded downward just before it
hit a house. Then there was
big fash"
A truck, standing near a parking
lot, blew up when part of the
plane hit it. Burning gasoline was
tSpattered over streets and build
ingS. One witness said he counted
10 cars wrecked.
Sound of the crash was heard
Ia mile and a half away.
Shortly after the crash, the
Port of New York Authority OPP
erations Department ordered In
Iternational Airport closed for a
half hour.
Plane Gunned Motors.
Jack Harris, an Associated Press
photographer, said he was in a
bus block from the crash.
1T didn't sound as if the plane
was having motor trouble" he
said. HE gunned the motors,
apparently trying to gain altitude,
just before he hit"
Mrs. Theodore Devlin, who lives
across the street from one of the
flaming houses, said:
Il was in bed. I heard this
terrific roar, then the crash.
ran to the window and saw a mass
of flames. A man who runs a
parking lot and two boys were
helping one another out through
a window of the burning house.
There was a deathly silence right
after the plane hit"
Calls Firemen and Police.
Mrs. Richard Diamond, who oc-
cupies an apartment in the same
building as Mrs. Devlin, said:
Il knew it was a plane as soon
as I heard the terrible crash.
ran down and called for firemen
and police. There was an explo-
sion seconds after the crash
one large and then two or three
after that. 1t seemed as if the
whole block was in flames"
One resident said the stricken
area was directly under a regular
aircraft approach course to Inter-
national Airport.
John Hughes, 36, visiting in a
NEARBY home, said "the whole area
seemed to be in flames.
II helped pull a man out of a
car in the street. I saw a woman
Lying there, apparently dead.
Three other men pulled a man
out of a car and placed him on a
porch where he died"
Terrific Conclusion.
Stanley Adamski, a motorist,
said, Il saw the plane plunging
down. 1t looked like it's wings
were folded up. 1t hit and ex-
Iploded and it nearly blew my ears
in"
Others described terror and
hysteria in the homes.
Il saw plane parts flying, and
! people were leaping out windows
and screaming one woman said
The plane skinned low over g
half-mile strip of the borough
before it plumeted downward.
!. There was one big crash anc
then an awful silence" said Sal.
vatore Scalise, a tailor. II thought
at first a bomb went off,
. Fire Chief Peter LOTUS said his
department had been training its
men for such disaster. ever since
the Elizabeth crashes.
We've been secretly drilling
!, them" he said.
Mrs. Helen De Franco. an AS
/. Sociated Press receptionist, who
lives at 10th street in Jamaica
said the plane made an "awfu
sound before crashing.
/. II never had heard anything
: like it before" she said. 1T wa
i a roaring noise and lasted TO
about a minute. Then there wa
4 Isilence.' ....
II She said residents of the are;
= often heard airplanes in the dis
Itance but never one so close.
n William Boyle. 54. of Rockville
1iICentre, an Office worker il