Evening star., 1961-09-01
PLANE
Family Groups Among Victims
Of AirIines Sd Worst Disaster
Continued From First Page

cVICCIlS Ol WllQOWS. "A Olg
wheel assembly rocketed
through the side of a corrugated
steel machinery shed. Inside the
shed later, portions of three
bodies were found.
The dead were scattered with
debris over an area one-fourth
by three-fourthS of a mile in
dimension. Effects seen at ran
dom included a tiny baby bon
net, a bathrobe, shower clogs. a
partly burned dress. There were
burst travelling bags and suit
cases.
AS morning came, a hundred
or more officials and workers
prepared to collect the bodies.
A Red Cross emergency disaster
unit crisscrossed the field many
times, driving lath stakes with
numbers on them into the soft
mud beside each body.
Then, came the specialist
team-a group of police Off
cials, Civil Aeronautics Board,
CAA and FBI men, physicians.
They went from body to body.
At each stop, the group spent
S to 10 minutes. A litter team
was summoned by gesture, and
the remains placed on the
stretcher in plastic tarpaulin,
and carried to waiting hearse.
All the dead were taken to
the Cook County Morgue in
Chicago.
The line of hearses on Clar-
endon Hills road nearby was a
macabre feature.
First reports indicating that
the plane had exploded in the
air and crashed in a fiery mass
were emphatically challenged
by several residents Of the
area.
National Guard Called
A detachment of National
Guard soldiers was brought
from a Nike missile site near
Argonne National Laboratory
to patrol the crash scene to
prevent the possibility Of loot
ing and keep relic seekers
away.
Najeeb Halaby, head Of the
FAA, flew from Washington
and went from O'Hare Airport
to the crash scene by helicop-
ter. With Mr.. Halaby was
Melvin N. Gaugh, CAB safety
director.
Mr.. Halaby told newSmen he
would report facts of the crash
to the public as soon as they
are determined.
Violence of the accident was
almost incredible to those who
saw the disintegration. The
largest pieces of wreckage were
a section of tail assembly, a
slab of wing section, apparently
an aileron or flap and parts
of the landing gear.
Death apparently was in
Simultaneous for the victims.
Chester Wadley, one Of the
first to arrive from his home
two blocks away, had brought
a newspaper to ward off the
misty rain. He used the pages
of the newspaper to cover
corpses.
Il didn't hear any screams"
Mr.. Wadley said. Il ran
through the wreckage trying
to find someone alive. I didn't
find anyone alive"
Charles c. George, jr, said
he heard the big ships engines
roar close by, looked from his
bedroom window, and saw the
planes black silhouette skim
ming about so feet above a
couple of small trees.
There was a tremendous
roar from the planes engines"
Mr.. George said. "The next
thing saw was a huge sheet
of flames as the plane hit the
ground"
George Holub, 46, photog-
rapher who lived nearby, said
he first heard the planes en-
gines and detected some sput-
ter over a straining roar. /
There seemed to be engine
trouble" he said. Il saw
nothing, but heard the crash"
Other Crashes Recalled /
The death toll when the plane !
smashed to earth less than 10
minutes after takeoff was the
third largest in United States
commercial airline history.
In aviation's worst disaster,
134 lives were lost in a collision
over New York City between a
TWA Super Constellation and
a United Air Lines DC-8 jet on !
December Is, 1860.
Another collision in the air, |
over Grand Canyon on June
80, 1856, took 1913 lives. The
planes which crashed were a !
UAL DC-7 and a TWA Super
Constellation.
An FBI spokesman said,
Were not in any position to
say anything, one way or the
other. We're looking into the
matter to determine whether
there was any Federal law vio-
lation."
Robert Allen, head of the
Civil Aeronautics Board, which
also began efforts to determine
the cause, said, Anything l
would tell you now would be
conjecture"
The aftermath included work
for representatives of the Post
Office Department-the plane
arried mail which was scorched
or scattered in the mud.
The dead sent there, one by
one during the morning, in
cluded Mr.. and Mrs. R. C. Ma
loney and their five children
from Covina Park, a suburb of
Los Angeles. The family was
y - H..