View source for 1951-01-17-sc-p41-airline-crash-at-reardan-edwall

'''January 17, 1951 Spokane Daily Chronicle Page 45:'''
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[[File:1951-01-17-sc-p45-airplane-crash-being-investigated-pt2.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]'''Investigators Seek Cause of Region's Worst Crash'''
[[File:1951-01-17-sc-p41-airline-crash-at-reardan-edwall.jpg|thumb|right|400px]]
(Continued from page 1)

Bundy was the door of his
home about the time of the explosion.
He asked his wife to notify
Fairchild air force base and the
 sheriff of Lincoln county

So close was the crash to the
Bundy home—about 250 yards
that for a time it was feared that
the home would burn, This prompt-
}ed the calling of the fire equipment
from district No. 4 at Edwall. Making
the “run” to the fire were
Chief Charles Jans, Tom Hutton,
Vern Anderson, O. D. Byram and
Bert Bjertness.

“We could see pieces of bodies
scattered for yards in the twisted
wreckage,” said Byram. Air mail
was also scattered all around.”

Byram said the airliner apparently
first struck a fence, then a
Small ditch and then went to
pieces.

'''Around the bodies were
still the safety belts worn by
passengers,” he said.'''

As the intensity of the storm
increased, highway conditions became
increasingly dangerous. Ambulances
from Fairchild and the
116th air guard fighter squadron,
Geiger, followed by fire-fighting
equipment, bucked growing drifts
of snow and the wind and snow
stung the faces of drivers.

Williams corner, on the highway
between Reardan and Edwall, became
jammed with sliding, skidding
and twisting traffic as Lincoln
county sheriff's deputies turned
back traffic from the rolling
country road leading about three miles
to the Bundy farm.

S/Sgt. Wesley G. Regan and
Sgts. James E., White and James
W. Burton of the 116th fighter
squadron returned here about midnight
with the mangled bodies.

They left the crash at 6 p. m.,
but were stopped by the storm at
Reardan. They followed a
snowplow for about five miles.

Investigators had little to say as
they left here today for the scene
of the crash.

'''“I've seen numerous accidents
as an employee of the
CAA and during the war, but
none equal to this,” said Gillis.'''

“Usually the tail of the airplane
can be located intact, but not this
time. The farm littered with
small parts.”

Some of the investigators
felt that weather was not
responsible for the crash.

Martin 2-0-2s are said to be
constructed and equipped to throw off
ice.

These views are expected to be
verified when the investigators
talk with Pilot Kenneth Brinnon,
and Co-pilot FE. Sauers of flight
503, which took off from Geiger
about five minutes before ill-fated
flight 115, headed west for Yakima
and Seattle.

It is said that flight 503 received
instructions. in the air to deviate
from its course to check reports
that flight 115 had crashed near
Edwall.

Pilots Brinnon and Sauers observed
smoke from the burning
2-0-2, Northwest officials said.

Assuming these reports as cor-
rect, investigators feel that they
will establish weather as an
unimportant factor.

'''Edwall Tragedy Fifth'''

Accidents of Martin 2-0-2s have
“dogged” Northwest Airlines for
several months. Yesterday's was the
fifth.

Early this winter one crashed
near Butte, Mont. Soon thereafter
Croil Hunter of St. Paul, president
of Northwest, ordered all 2-0-2s
grounded for a thorough structural
inspection and modifications.

They were out of service for
about 10 days, after which they
were returned to duty as rapidly as
inspections were completed.

The state highway department
employees which rescue crew
members praised for long hours of
work conditions in bitter storm
conditions are Herman K. Wahl,
and Marvin J. Reynolds.

They drove their truck plow
back and forth between the main
highway and scene of the crash in
an attempt to keep drifts open.
Often they stopped to pull other
vehicles back onto the road.

In Davenport, Lincoln county
coroner said today no inquest
would be held for the plane crash
victims unless Northwest Airlines
asked for it. He said four bodies
had been tentatively identified so
far and identification was proceeding
on the others with difficulty
due to their mangled condition.
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