Evening star., 1960-03-02
By VERN HAUGLAND
A,.oel.tnd pree, RtaR wrItar

Associated Press stan writer
How could they tell what
caused 1t?
The men assigned to investi-
gate the plane tragedy that
took "a lives early last January
6 found wreckage scattered
across marshlands near Bolivia,
NC.
There were several large
pieces of the plane, including
most of the cockpit. And there
were more than 1000 bits, OF
debris. Some of the wreckage
was missing. Bodies of two of
the victims could not be found.
In the days that followed
there was speculation from
Capitol Hill that a suicide
bomb had blown the plane
apart in flight. Linked with this
speculation was the name of
Julian Andrew Frank. 80,
heavily insured New York at
torney. But no evidence was
disclosed showing he either
Willingly or unwittingly car
ried a bomb aboard.
Then on February % the
chairman of the Civil Aeronau-
tics Board. James R. Durfee,
made an unprecedented prog
reSS report to the Senate Avia-
ton Subcommittee. He told the
Senators:
". The boards Bureau of
Safety, with the assistance of
the Federal Bureau of Investi-
CATION and the many other
laboratories that assisted us in
our evaluations. is now pre-
pared to say that we have
found evidence that a dynamite
explosion, initiated electrically
by a dry cell battery, occurred
within the aircraft cabin in the
vicinity of the seat occupied by
Julian Frank"
Probe Continues
The investigation still is 60
ing on. But here. in general,
is how the investigators
operated:
The experts held their first
meeting within hours after
they arrived at the scene. 1t
was apparent to them that the
National Airlines DC6B, bound
nonstop from New York to
Miami, had come apart in the
air.
They considered these four
possibilities:
/. An airborne collision.
2. Explosive decomposition
a "blowout"-of the plane be-
cause of structural fatigue of
its walls
3. Explosive decomposition
because Of puncturing by a
propeller bleae.
4. An explosive force from
within.
Teams were set up to broa-
den the search. Marine helicop-
tiers Joined the hunt. Twenty
miles from the wreckage, they
made their find: Some 40
pieces of metal from the
planes right forward side. 1t
was scattered along Kure
Beach-the point at which
Miami-bound airliners begin
the over-ocean part of the
fight.
Apparently it was over this
beach that tragedy hit the
plane.
A structure team also was
organized. 1t included CAB en-
gineers and representatives of
the airline and the planes
manufacturer.
A human factors team went
to work. A specialist from the
Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology conducted autopsies
on five crew members but re-
ported no significant findings.
No Eye Witnesses
A witness group also was set
up. There were no eyewitness
ses. but l52 persons we're ques-
toned in five days.
An operations group checked
the history of the plane and
the flight. They found that no
other aircraft had been in the
area at the time. No missiles
had been fired.
Possibility No. IA collision
could be crossed off.
The investigators set up a
full-size wooden model of a /.
DC6B in a hangar at the Will
mington IN. c. airport. The
model was covered with chicken
wire. The experts began hang
ing bits of metal on it.
The wreckage at Kure Beach
turned out to include a three
seat unit and large sections of