Executives of The Pqcific Lumber Compqny Escope Plcrne Crcrsh

Eight inches, a fraction of a minute and a break in the fuselage of a converted B-23 Douglas bomber combined for a life-saving miracle in a plane crash at the AkronCanton Airport, Ohio, March 29. Three executives of The Pacific Lumber Company, the pilot, the co-pilot, and the latter's father, a guest of the company, escaped seconds after the crash through a hole in the fuselage caused when the plane split in half. The pilot beat his hasty retreat through the windshield that had been knocked out by the impact. All escaped unhurt with the exception of the pilot, rvho scraped his forehead as he crawled through the rvindshield frame.

A cold drizzle was falling at the time of the crash and visibility was poor as the converted twin-engined bomber made its instrument approach. Suddenly, the plane's right rving dipped at a 7S-degree angle and struck a roadbed adjoining the airport. The impact of the right wing with the ground catapulted the twin-engined plane in a cartwheel motion over a l5-foot embankment between the road and the landing field, and then the wing ripped clear of the fuselage. The passeng'ers were bounced about as the plane then cartwheeled 250 feet along the flat land and finally came to a stop about 800 feet from the South end of the runrvay. The engines droppecl out u.here the nose struck at the half-way point in the cartrvheel.

As soon as the plane stopped, it began burning. The five men scooted out the broken fuselage u'hile Hall scrambled through the frame that seconds before had held an icecoated windshield. The explosion and fire that destroyed the craft held back just long enough for all to get clear of the wreckage. It took the airport fire truck about an hour to put out the blaze and at its height, the fire could be seen for several miles.

The group had taken off at LaGuardia Field in Nerv York, headed for Akron, where Ken Smith, Carl Bahr and Vern Malloy were to meet Joseph Griffiths of WeatherSeal, Inc. for dinner, and believe it or not, they still made that dinner appointment, although they lvere understandably a bit late.