AEROPLANE ACCIDENT.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1926, Page 3

AEROPLANE ACCIDENT.

[Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.] (Reocived this day at 10.23 a.m.) NEW YORK, September 22. At Westbury this morning, a huge three-motored biplane, in which Captain Rene Fonck attempted to hop off on a non-stop flight to Paris, crashed, trapping the occupants in a closed cabin. Charles Clauvier (French radio • operator) and Jacob IslamofF (Russian mechanic) were burned to death, hut Fonck and Lieut. Laurence Curtin (of United States navy, an alternate pilot) managed to leap to safety before tho flames broke out. The ’plane weighed over twenty eight thousand pounds loaded and was valued at one hundred thousand dollars without motors. It is a total loss. The officials and build ers, Sikorski Engineering Aerial Corporation, exonerated all the participants from blame. It is indicated another attempt will be made. NEW YORK. September 21. Rene Fonek’s long-heralded attempt to fly with three companions from New York to Paris started amid the acclaim of a. thousand people and ended three minutes later with the plane in dames and two of the crow dead. Charles Clavier of France, radio operator, and James Islamoff, Russian, mechanic, were burned to death when the running gear gave way and the ’piano plunged into a gully. Fonck and his second in command, Lieutenant Curtin, miraculously escaped uninjured, hut the bodies of Clavier and Islamoff were found in ‘the ruins partly burned in ashes of tho cockpit, side by side. The flesh was burned from the hones in places and the bodies were almost unrecognisable. Apparently the door of the cockpit jammed as the plane struck and the, men were trapped and forced to die an agonising death. There was some delay in getting ready for the start, but soon after six a.m. Fonck and Curtin, climbed into * the ’plane, joining Clavier, who was at his radio set and Islamoff who was already giving his engines a final inspection. Fonck took tho controls, Curtin being beside him. The engine speeded up slowly and moved down the field amid cheers. Tho men could be seen bending to their work and tho engine was given more speed, but still the ’plane failed to answer. Finally it lifted from the ground and settled hack again. It came up about four feet but -COuld not maintain it and dropped. The ’plane was off the ground four or five feet, when there was a sudden, muffled explosion, not sufficiently violent to be recognised as anything serious by the spectators until the ’plane careered at a giddy angle and fell into a gully. As it fell Curtin and Fonck were seen, to be thrown clear, but there was no- trace of Clavier and Islamoff. The ’plane had hardly struck the ground when smoko poured forth and tongues of flame leaped up. It was soon apparent it would probably he a total loss and it was certnin that Islamoff and Curtin could not escape. The crowd surged down the field but could not approach nearer than a few hundred yards, because the tanks contained twenty-four hundred gallons of 1 petrol which were liable to explode any minute. A feiV ventured closer to determine whether Clavier and Islamoff could be saved, but they were forced to draw back. Both Curtin and Fonck were at first dazed, but soon were able to walk to an automobile, which carried them ■ from the field. They appeared anxious to leave and avoid witnessing the death of their companions. Later Fonck stated he attributed the accident to troubles with an axuiliary ( landing gear. : He said:, “I noticed this had given when we hit with bumps. The right Wheel went in an oblique angle and .1 could feel it had torn the left rudder loose. At first I tried to slow up but then I knew it was useless to do that, ( because the gully was so close and so , I opened her up again hoping to get into the air, but I could not do it and wo smashed.” Fouclc was unable to explain how he and Curtin/ saved their lives.' He ‘said:, “I do not know why, but I could sense the catastrophe. AVe crawled out on the nose of the ’plane. The motors' were still running and how wo , got off the ’plane to the ground without being cut to pieces by the pro- . pellers is more than I know.” When the automobile passed EikorI sky’s plant, Igor Sikorsky, the Russian aeroplane builder* who made the construction of Fouck’s plane the climax of his career, was sobbing pitifully. Curtin and Fonck were sufficiently recovered to offer him comfort. It was over an hour before the flames died down sufficiently to enable the firemen to extinguish the remainder of tho outbreak, examine the ’plane and discover the bodies. Lines were drawn to keep hack the crowd which became, hysterical, women shrieking ns the ’plane crashed, men running towards the spot. It was fifteen minutes" before any semblance of order .was restored.