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—Coronans Have Chilly Feeing Along Spine When March Field Warships of the Air Crack Up—^Pilots Caterpillar Club MembersThe two March Field pursuit planes which crashed Tuesday afternoon over the hills to the south of the city and dashed over 5000 feet to the ground were found toy the military authorities to have been so badly damaged that notLing can be salvaged.The pilots of the two planes which crashed together In the air, Tuesday, Lieutenant Richard W. French and Lieutenant Phineas K. Morrill, both of the Seventy-Third pursuit squadron, escaped uninjured following the crash. They “bailed out” of the helpless aircraft, after shutting off their motors and reached the ground with the aid of their parachutes, in safety. Lieutenant French sustained a slight cut above one eye, when one of the wings of his plane folded up and struck him. Fortunately he was only dazed by the blow and was able to swing out In bis 'chute to safety. His plane with both wings missing fell straight to the ground.The crash was witnessed by scores of Corona people who were watching the air maneuvers during the afternoon. Number of young fellows and high school boys witnessed the air collision and immediately rushed up towards the canyon to the planes. By the time that officers from March Field and arrived, everey loose part of the planes, including the instruments, had heen taken by the boys. Included was a telescope valued st $850. Tues. night Captain James L, Griham, acting March Field post operations officers, came to Corona and through the aid of Chief of Police Gamer had sought out the boys who had taken the various articles from the planes and recovered practically all of them. Number of the boys assisted the officers in the search for the missing parts.The army fliers were given every assitance Tuesday following the mishap by Corona citizens. The two officers sifter alighting safely made their way to the A. E. Ganahl rancho where they telephoned to the March Field headquarters. In the meanwhile Chief of Police Gamer had dispatched Motorcyle Officer Joseph Lowery toward the scene of the accident and he gave the officers every possible assistance.Lieutenant French was quoted as teling inqluirers after the crash that he was flying in the, three-ship attack formation in j which Lieutenant Morrill also was a pilot, when he suddenly noticed the sun shining in his eyes and concluded he was slightly out of formation.He pointed the nose of hisplane upward and an instant later the crash occurred. Lieutenant Morrill was fingering his machine gun trigger when the ships collided.Although dazed by the impact. Lieutenant French managed toclimb from the cockpit of his plane, which had lost parts ofboth wings in the crash, and jump into space. The other ship was {relieved not so seriously damaged but was so disabled that Lieutenant Morrill despaired ofbringing it safely to earth.The pursuit squadrons had been in practice formation flights over the Corona and Cleveland National forest areas during the middle of the day before the mishap occurred.The Ganahl rancho was the scene of operations yesterday following the crash, for it was there that the two pilots came to meet the officers of the post who rushed to the scene with an ambulance, ready for any emergency. Possibly the two most intent observers of the accident were A. E. Ganahl, owner of the large rancho hearing his name and Jos. Chaney, well-known Co-ronan. They were standing in the yard of the rancho watching the planes working above them. As the planes fell, they observed the parachutes open and float down above the fallen planes. Immediately three of the other planes working with the group went into action. One of them headed directly for March Field, while another circled around the men as they were drifting toward the earth in their parachutes. The third swooped down low over the buildings of the rancho and the pilot motioned to Ganahl and Chaney toward the falling fliers. The two men set out up the Main street canyon on foot to meet the army men walking down the hill after they had alighted from the parachutes. They were taken to the Ganahl home, and a few minutes afterwards other officers rushing to Corona from March Field arrived. Praise was given by the officers to the manner in which the Coronans aided them in their mishap.
Newspaper Details
Corona Courier
Corona, California, US
Fri, Feb 26, 1932
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Donald C.
NA, NA 03 Jan 2025
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