Evening star., 1955-07-18
Probe Started
In Air Crash
Fatal 10 y
Silver Spring Man
Is Among Victims;
II Are Injured

CHICAGO, July IS P.-En-
gineers are examining each in
strument and part Of a wrecked
Braniff Always plane today to
determine why it crashed In
flames, killing % persons and in
ljuring 81.
The twin-engined Convair
loaded to capacity. was coming in
low for an instrument landing In
the early morning fog yesterday
when it clipped a gasoline station
sign at the edge of Midway Air
port. tipped over and plowed in
to the ground.
'The plane should never have
attempted the landing" said
Cook County Coroner Walter Nc
Carron, who is conducting an in
quest.
officials at Brapif headquart-
ers in Dallas said they would not
comment on his statement at this
time because "the investigation
iof the safety of this operation
now is in the hands of investi-
gators Of the Civil Aeronautics
1 Board.
Long Inquiry Seen
A spokesman for the AFL Air
Line Pilots Association, which
also is investigating the crash,
said it may take several months
to determine the exact cause of
the disaster.
"1t could have been combi-
nation of things that may have
started 500 miles away" he said,
Among the dead was Lawrence
H. Norton. 48, of 1915 Dale drive,
Silver Spring, Md, assistant di-
rector OF the Food and Agricul-
ture Office for the International
Cooperation Administration.
A spokesman for the family
reported Mr.. Norton was aboard
the ill-fated plane only because
his plans to fly directly from
Kansas City, Mo. to Washington
ran into scheduling difficulty,
Mr.. Norton had been visiting his
parents, Mr.. and Mrs, Gus Nor
ton, OF Garden City, Kans., for
the last week. His father was
seriously i'll. OBITUARY on Page
IA-12.;
2 Football Players Killed
Two football players were
killed. They were Chester A.
Wynne, ir.. 81, of Oak Park, nj.
ia senior at Notre Dame whose
father. Chet Wynne, was first
string fullback at Notre Dame in
the early 1920s and later head
coach at Auburn and Kentucky:
and Troy K. Lindsey, %, of Mid
west City, Okla, an All-Okla-
homa Conference guard who was
to have reported to the Chicago
Cardinals training camp.
| The pilot, Capt. Allen Tobin,
43, OF Dallas, an airline pilot for
Is years, and the stewardess
Miss Mary Teel. %, of Camden,
Ark, also were killed. Co-Pilot
o. w. Hanks, a native of Des
Moines, Ia, was seriously injured
The plane. en- route from
Dallas to Chicago, licked against
the 15-foot high electric sign,
crashed a fence and spun onto
its back inside the airport, one
wing ripped off and the other
Iaflame.
The wreckage skidded nearly
half a mile. to within q few hun
idred yards of the airport fire
station. Fast acting crash crews
put out the sea of gasoline
flames within three minutes, saw
ing many of the 43 persons
aboard. The plane carried 40
passengers and a crew of 3.
Several Die In Hospitals
Several passengers died after
reaching nearby hospitals. OF
the remaining injured. only two
were listed as in critical condi-
tion early today.
The crash was the second fatal
mishap of a Braniff Airways
plane in Is years. The first was
August %, 1854, when IL persons
were killed.
Coroner McCarron said he
learned one of the engines of
the plane caught fire during a
Irefueling stop at Wichita, Kans.,
TAv~ks~~~AL n