ST.
LOUIS MAYOR KILLED
Deadly Glider
Crash at Lambert Field
SAINT
LOUIS, Mo.—Mayor William Dee Becker and nine others were killed in the crash of
a military glider yesterday afternoon at Lambert Airfield. The mayor and four
city and county officials were riding in the glider for a demonstration before
a gathered crowd there to see the first public viewing of the new
troop-carrying aircraft. Also killed in the crash was Major William B.
Robertson, the aviation pioneer who owned the company that constructed the
glider. The wings of the glider collapsed at an altitude of fifteen hundred
feet, and the craft plummeted to the ground. One of the gathered crowed, Joseph
C. Payne of Saint Louis, told reporters, “There was a splintering noise and
both wings seemed to fall away; at that moment, the tow cable snapped, and the fuselage
dropped like a rock.” Army officials seized film from the cameras of reporters who
witnessed the accident. Unofficial reports indicate all gliders manufactured by
the Robertson Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation are grounded until structural
integrity of the design is verified.
No comments:
Post a Comment