Evening star., 1957-12-24
4 Are Rescued
After Explosion
On NavyP|ane
F.. Rudur Croft With
q Aboard Goes
Down Off Huwoii

HONOLULU. Dec. a. (R.--AI
pilot Of the Navy Super Con-
stellation that plunged into the
sea last night said today the big
plane exploded. He said he be-
lieved there were survivors in
the area. Twenty-three men
were aboard.
comdr. Guy Howard. IL, Of
San Diego. Calf. executive
oficer. was one Of four sur
vivors who arrived aboard q
crash Noat at daybreak.
He said several other crew.
men were seen aiioat shortly
after the crash.
Two bodies and several
empty hfejackets were retrieved
by the crash boat crew.
All the survivors had burns,
cuts and bruises and were taken
to Tripler Army Hospital.
Comdr. Howard was checkout
pilot on the training flight Of
the huge radar plane.
The man who was supposed
to have piloted the ship. Comdr.
Gordon @. Brady. was at the
pier when the crash boat
reached Kanehoe Marine Corps
Air Station.
Other Survivors
The other survivors were 1t.
q. 81 John Thomas Kline, 1t.
u. g) Richard L. Rentschler
and Aviation Technician sc
Franklin A. Henry.
Comdr. Howard, q pilot for
l8 years. wears the Distin-
guished Flying Gross.
The search for additional
survivors was intensified at
daybreak.
The crash boat crew said
they heard cries for help and
picked up the four men from
among the debris floating in
the area.
Seas were heavy. with waves
at times topping IA feet.
An armada Of surface craft
and rescue planes raced to the
area after the giant plane went
down IS miles north Of Oahu
last night.
The survivors. who were
wearing life preservers but were
not in q raft. said their Super
Constellation ditched In rough
seas. the Navy said.
While Navy. Air Force and
Coast Guard planes searched
the blackness. destroyers, cut
ters and merchant ships con-
verged on the area.
The SIS million radar-
crammed plane made its last
check report at $50 pm. It
was 100 miles northeast Of its
base at BARRIERS Point Naval Air
Station on Oahu.
A short time later radar
screens picked it up only IS
miles north Of the island, ap-
parently circling for a landing
at BARRIERS Point. Suddenly it
dropped on the screen.
Still later the Navy said that
one Of the men at first thought
aboard turned up in downtown
Honolulu. Richard d. Warner,
%. Of Ontario. Calf. an avia-
ton technician third class. had
been on leave yesterday to get
married. the Navy said. and
was excused from the training
fight.
Twenty-one men had first
been reported aboard the Ill
fated aircraft. That was later
changed to 24-six officers and
l8 enlisted men.
Copters to Join Search
The Navy said helicopters
would join the search for the
other survivors at daybreak.
The Super Constellation took
of at 10 am. yesterday. Such
planes. specially converted for
radar patrols, are capable Of
remaining aloft more than two
days.
Early in the search an Air
Force plane reported making
radio contact with a life raft
and a Coast Guard plane said
it sighted flares and a raft.
Those reports we're not con-
firmed and a Navy spokesman
said they were being disre-
garded.
Survivors. when picked up.
said they signaled a search
plane with a fiashlight.
The Navy spokesman said
names Of those aboard the
patrol craft probably would be
released later today.
The missing four engine
plane was attached to an air.
craft early warning wing based
at BARRIERS Point on Oahu. the
Hawaiian island on which
Honolulu stands.
This disaster was the first for
the early warning wing Of
planes in about two years Of
operations here. It was also the
worst military plane accident in
this area since a Military Air
Transport plane crashed into
an oahu mountain in March.