SYRACUSE, N.Y. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1944

PLANE CRASHES WEST OF SOLVAY, THREE KILLED

A C-47 army transport from the Syracuse army air base burst into flames and crashed at Gere's Lock in the Belle Isle rd., also known as the old airport rd., at 9:10 p.m. yesterday killing the three members of the crew. According to observers, the plane was approaching the municipal airport from the east, when it banked north, its motors skipping and trailing black smoke. It lost altitude rapidly, and exploded before crashing about 100 yards off the highway.

WIRES RIP OFF MOTOR

In the plunge downward, the transport ripped thru high tension wires, which pulled off one motor and propeller. Two of the men were thrown from the plane, one striking the ground about 25 yards from the road and the other about 60 yards from the road. The pilot of the plane stayed in until the crash, when he was thrown out under the left wing. Frank Napoli of the Belle Isle rd. and another man dragged the pilot from the burning plane shortly after the crash. he was pronounced dead by the intern from St. Joseph hospital whose ambulance was called by Frank Nizer, who lives near where the plane crashed.

The propeller of the ripped motor was found in the road and the engine just off the road toward the wreck. Fire apparatus was sent immediately from Solvay, but the plane continued to burn for about an hour. When the plane hit the high tension wires, lights in the village of Solvay, about one mile away dimmed momentarily and white flashes were seen in the vicinity of the crash. All available deputies from the sheriff's department were sent, as residents within several miles of the explosion flocked to the scene, blocking traffic and imperiling themselves due to fallen wires.

HERALD-JOURNAL

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, MONDAY JULY 3, 1944

3 FLIERS DIE IN CRASH

Cargo Plane Hits power Wire Strand

Machine Disintegrates as It Comes Down in Small Field

2 THROWN CLEAR

Army Board of Inquiry Examine Wreckage to Find Cause

Three youthful pilots of the Troop Carrier Command based at Syracuse Army Air base were killed almost instantly at 9:10 P.M. yesterday when their twin-motored cargo plane crashed and burned in a field at Gere's Lock near the city municipal airport. Lt. Col. Harry P. Galligher, base commandant, identified the victims and their next of kin as:

Bodies Sent Home

The bodies of the airmen, held over night at the county morgue, were sent to their homes today. The plane, similar to those seen in the air over Syracuse day and night, apparently developed trouble while flying on a routine training mission out of the Army Field and headed downward. It missed a large section of high tension wires that run across Belle Isle Road and struck a single strand wire carrying 425 volts. After striking the wire it crashed into a small field on the Naples farm at Belle Isle and State Fair Roads.

Motors Torn Loose

It struck with terrific force and disintegrated. The tail section was broken clear of the fuselage, the motors tore loose from their mounts in the wings and the propellers tore free of the engine shafts. Two of the pilots were thrown clear of the wreckage as it bounced across the field, while the other was thrown to the ground, still strapped to his seat, beneath the left wing.

Officers at Syracuse Army Air Base were unable to say which of the three was at the controls at the time of the crash as the pilots alternate while on training flights. The plane burst into flame as the gasoline tanks broke open. None of the crew members, however, was burned.

TWO WITNESS CRASH

Frank Napoli, of Gere's Lock, and a man whose identity was not learned, witnessed the crash and rushed to the wreckage. They pulled the body from beneath the wing. An Army board of inquiry, composed of a group of officers at Syracuse Army Air Base, went to the scene of the crash this morning and examined the wreckage in an effort to determine the cause. From eyewitnesses, it is believed one of the engines developed trouble and caused the ship to do down.

John S. Pendergast, director of the city bureau of municipal research, was at the municipal airport at the time. He said his attention was attracted to the plane when he saw smoke trailing from the ship. "The plane lost altitude rapidly as the smoke increased in volume," Pendergast said. "It didn't plunge vertically. When it disappeared below my horizon I knew it was crashing and listened, but didn't hear anything.

POWER GOES OFF

"Next I saw a red flash, followed by an increasing red glow. Just a second before this the electric light power at the airport went off. The airport switched on its diesel motored power plant and the lights went on again." The crash attracted hundreds to the scene and as the wreckage lay blazing on the ground, other cargo planes roared overhead on their training flights. Napoli told Sheriff Robert Wasmer he heard a noise "like a ripping clap of thunder, and my wife ran to the window and saw the fire." Napoli lives about 200 yards from the scene of the crash. Continuing he said "I ran toward the plane and with another man I didn't know tried to find the fliers."

SHERIFF CALLED

"We saw one of them under a wing. We ran up, shielding our faces against the lames, and pulled him up a bank and among some trees in front of the lock. We thought he was alive. Frank Gilanti of 2851 Milton Avenue, another witness to the crash, telephoned the sheriff's office at 9:12 P.M. and reported the accident. Sheriff Wasmer with Deputies Justin King, Charles Post, Walter Foote, Leo Beebe, Edward West, Raymond Saaler, Raymond Dear, Robert Kananola and Jailer Clifford Black sped to the scene. A call was put through to the Rev. Carl Denti, assistant pastor of St. Cecelia's Church, Solvay, and he went to the field and administered last rites over the bodies of the three.

CROWDS KEPT FROM WIRE

Solvay police and Fairmount auxiliary policemen assisted deputies in keeping the crowds of curious back from the live wire that was snapping and crackling on the ground. This danger was cleared after emergency crews from the lighting company made repairs. The Air Base was informed of the tragedy and within a few minutes Base intelligence officers and military police arrived and cleared the field of all spectators.

Solvay Fire Department sent one of its trucks to the field but the intense hear from the blazing wreckage prevented them from getting close enough to extinguish the flames. Horrace Mosher and Carmen Peitrocci, whose addresses were not learned and who witnessed the crash, told Army officers the ship was traveling in a westerly direction and the right wing seemed to be dipped. The plane motors roared in a sudden burst of power, they said, indicating the pilot sought to gain altitude when the crash came. As the plane struck the wire, lights in solvay dimmed momentarily. The accident happened about a mile west of solvay.

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1944

MILITARY SECRECY SHROUDS PROBE OF FATAL ACCIDENT

Investigation of the crash of a twin motored cargo plane in which three young officers of the troop carrier command died in a Gere's Lock field near the municipal airport Sunday night is being made by Lt. Col. Harry P. Galligher, commandant of Syracuse army air base, and an air accident board of three members. The officers, who died when the cargo plane was torn apart as it struck a high tension wire carrying 425 volts, were identified yesterday as:

INQUIRY UNFINISHED

The board spent yesterday on the investigation but has not completed the inquiry and has not arrived at any conclusions. Lt. Col. Galligher said last night. Military secrecy will veil the investigation until the proper time arrives for the disclosures he indicated. Among personal effects of the three officers help temporarily at the county morgue, is a wrist watch worn by Lt. Kirschenbaum. It bears the inscription: "Seymour from Dad - Happy landings - 12-21-43." The watch stopped at 8:43 p.m.

Identification of the three pilots was not made officially until after notice had been received by parents. Arrangements were made yesterday for shipments of the bodies. The cargo plane was reported to have been on fire about 200 feet above the ground shortly before it struck high tension wires while an attempt was being made to land it in a field while on a routine training mission.

GUARD WRECKAGE

Military police guarded the wreckage yesterday and kept civilians away from the area where the debris was scattered in the field. The tail section was broken from the fuselage. Some distance away were the motors, torn loose from their mounts in the wings. The crash stripped off the propellers. Two of the three pilots, who were killed instantly, were thrown clear of the wreckage. The other was pulled from beneath the left wing by Frank Napoli, who lives nearby, and an unidentified air. Napoli said he believed the pilot was alive but was pronounced dead when a St. Joseph hospital interne arrived with the ambulance.

Sheriff Robert G. Wasmer and nine deputies took charge at the accident scene until officers and military police arrived from the air base. There will be no investigation by the civilian authorities as it comes entirely within military jurisdiction.