Evening star., 1960-12-18
MUNICH
Continued From First Page

Cdot' A0Oub 1tU yAAuo oOutA4@
the church Is Mariatheresien-
wiese Meadow.
The American students
aboard the plane were chill
dren Of United States military
personnel stationed in England.
They were to ny to Northolt
Airport, England. there to scat
ter to thed families for Christ
mas.
The transport took OF from
Munich-R at 2:05 pm, in
foggy weather. Four minutes
later. witnesses said the plane
hit the steeple Of st. Paul's
Roman Catholic Church in the
heart Of the city. 1t sheared CT
the steeple, few on another
couple Of streets and then. with
q roar, dived into Bayerstrasse
and exploded.
A huge area went up in
flames as the plane smashed
into the streetcar and gasoline
spewed over nearby cars and
buildings. Witnesses said people
walking along the street burst
into flames as the gasoline
drenched them.
More than so fire engines,
German as well as from the
United States Army in Munich,
rushed to the scene. A mile
square area was sealed OF.
Germans said 1t reminded
them Of the wartime air raids
on the city.
There was fire, and damage,
and screams and bodies every
where" one man said.
~ thought an atom bomb
had hit u.s." said q 60-year-old
woman resident Of this city of
q million population. She was
standing in front of her house.
II will never forget 1t. A
panic broke out on the street.
Men and women poured from
nearby houses, screaming and
yelling and crying. It was
chaos"
'It was horrible" a young
woman said. II heard the roar
ing Of the engines. It got
louder and louder. I ran to the
window Of my apartment. Sud-
denly there was q gigantic ex-
plosion and yellow flames
spread everywhere.
I'm the middle of 1t all there
was a streetcar and after a
while / could see black figures
running around in the middle
Of the flames. I do not know
what happened to them"
PaSsers-by tried to get
through the flames to the
streetcar and the plane but
found it impossible. Several
motorists, trapped when gaso-
line soaked their cars, were
rescued before their vehicles
burned up.
! But other passers-by suffered
| fatal burns.
! Four hours after the trag-
edy, flremen had successfully
extinguished fires in neighbor-
ing buildings.
But bursts Of flames continue
to shoot from the wreckage as
wintry. foggy night closed over
the city.
The C-l31 Convair was at
tached to the United States Sd
Air Force in England, whose
commander, Maj. Gen. Ernest
Moore. has been vacationing al
nearby Garmisch. He rushed
to Munich when he heard oi
the accident.
The flight captain was Mai
John K. Connery. 40. whose
mother lives in Auburn, Ala
He was killed and so was hi.
son, John, jr., l8, one Of the 1;
American students killed in tht
crash.
The Air Force delayed re.
leasing the list Of the casualties
until next of kin were notified
German police said the plane
reported engine trouble as soor
as it left the airport runway
All Munich fire brigades wert
alerted Immediately. Alarm
were ringing all over the cit,
as the crash occurred.
Police say they believe tn,
pilot may have tried to return
; to the airport. They speculatet
that when he realized he coul,
, not make 1t. the pilot may hav
thought he could make al
emergency landing on Munich
r+ariatheresienwieso This is
huge field in the center Of tn
: city where the city's annus
beer-drinking festival is held.
1t was the second major al
; disaster for Munich in recen
I years. On February g., 1858,
' British European Airways plan
s carrying England's famed Man
t chester United soccer tear
e crashed on takeoff. killing 2
e persons.
Afkn,s kNIa1vym nna n1n ARn-r