20 PLANE VICTIMS NAMED.

CLUES TO EASTBAY PLANE FALL MISSING.

Investigators failed today to turn up a single clue to the cause of the disastrous crash last night of a Transocean Air Lines DC-4 in a muddy Alvarado barley field.
Thirty Air Force men and the crew of five, including two stewardesses, died as the plane dropped out of the overcast and burned in the level field.
An exhaustive investigation was being organized this afternoon, but cursory examination of the scene today produced nothing that would shed light on the accident, according to SAMUEL WILSON, executive vice-president of Transocean.
The pilot of the plane was Transocean's chief pilot and WILSON said he would "almost rule out the possibility of pilot error."
"He was not only our chief pilot but our best pilot," WILSON said.
The tragic crash came when the plane was less than 12 miles from a landing at Oakland Municipal Airport and only two minutes after the pilot had made normal radio contact with the Civil Aeronautics Administration control tower without reporting trouble.
The four-engine airliner, arriving from Walker Air Force Base at Roswell, N. M., en route to Guam, was on the "beam" for its instrument approach to Oakland Airport when, according to eye witnesses, it went into a steep left bank, dropped to earth and cartwheeled, then burst into flames.
The FBI said in San Francisco that it was "maintaining contact" with investigators on the scene for any evidence of sabotage, but that as yet there was no hint of sabotage.
The 30 dead airmen were maintenance specialists of the 509th Bomb Wing assigned to Guam after completing training at the Roswell Field.
The crash scene is about four miles from where a United Air Lines DC-6B crashed on August 24, 1951, killing 50 persons in the state's worst air disaster.
Investigation of the cause was being made today by EARLE MITCHELL, chief of the Oakland office of the Civil Aeronautics Board, assisted by experts from Southern California, and officials of Oakland-based company.
The plane hit a fourth of a mile northeast of the intersection of Alguire Road and Whipple Road on the ranch operated by FRANK and RICK ANDRADA.
Plane On Lease.
Transocean Air Lines said the Douglas-built DC-4 was leased from the Air Force and operated by Transocean under contract to the Military Air Transport Service.
It left Roswell about 11:15 a.m. yesterday and began flying in instrument weather at Winslow, Ariz.
Transocean said the plane was making an instrument approach to the airport after being held over the field for anhour due to weather and traffic conditions.
Tower control of the plane was transferred from the Air Route Traffic Control Center at 6:19 p.m. The plane then was at 8000 feet in the vicinity of the Newark radio beacon. At 6:27, the pilot was given permission to descent to 3500 feet, the "holding" altitude over Newark.
At 6:36 the pilot reported he was leaving Newark on his approach.
Then -- Disaster.
Two minutes later the plane suddenly dropped into the muddy field.
Apparently it hit first on the left wing, then the nose and dropped back upright. Then there was a great ball of fire and the plane burned.
Bodies, many with their clothes burned off, torn, twisted pieces of debris and personal belongings from the baggage were scattered over 350 yards.
Borth wings were torn off. One of the four engines was thrown 100 feet, one section of the dual wheel landing gear over 80 feet.
Flames Balk Rescue.
ROBERT LEMOS, of 26 Creek Road, said he was driving on Whipple Road when he saw the plane, landing gear down, in a steep left bank. He watched in horror as it smashed into the plowed field and exploded almost immediately. He ran to the plane but was unable to help, if any were still alive, because of the intense heat of the fire.
MRS. EDITH WHIPPLE was on her porch a half mile northeast of the crash, she said, when she heard the plane "much too low."
Ice Chunks Found.
"It then seemed that the engines were cut off. Instantly, it seemed to catapult almost straight down, crashed and the explosion shook the house," she said. "I could see the flames strung out in a long line."
WILLIAM SILVA, 31, of Whipple Road, who also saw the crash, later found pieces of ice up to eight inches long and three inches thick with "smooth rounded inner sides."
Presumably the ice came from the leading edge of the wing and was broken off by de-icers.
Authorities in their preliminary investigation discounted the probability that icing caused the plane to fall, since the pilot had reported no difficulty with icing conditions. SILVA'S house is southwest of the place where the plane crashed, which would indicate the ice was knocked off before the accident. Icing conditions will be investigated further, however.
Tests 'Prove' Point.
The U. S. Weather Bureau found the freezing level at 4855 feet at 7 p.m., less than half an hour after the crash, and the Transocean plane was at 3500 feet two minutes before it hit.
Fire equipment from Alvarez and Decoto was the first rescue equipment on the scene and extinguished the main fire.
Reportes that there were about six survivors, some seemed to be alive at first, brought ambulances to the scene. They bogged down in the mud that became a quagmire as more people and vehicles sloshed through the field in the rain. Tractors pulled the ambulances out. The victims were taken to Fairmont Hospital, where they too were pronounced dead.
Alameda County sheriff's deputies and air police from Parks Air Force Base roped off the area and medical technicians from Parks and Oakland Naval Hospital carried on the girm task of recovering the bodies, some of which still were inside the plane.
Transocean Air Lines President ORVIS M. NELSON and Executive Vice-President SAM WILSON both were on the crash scene, along with other executives.
The crash was the company's third fatal accident out of more than 700,000,000 passenger miles flown in all parts of the world since it was organized by NELSON in 1946.
The company has been engaged in the Korea airlift and one of its subsidiaries, Aircraft Engineering and Maintenance Company, has contracts for the overhaul of Air Force multi-engine planes.

PARTIAL LIST OF DISASTER DEAD RELEASED.
Roswell, N. M., March 21 -- (AP) -- Walker Air Force Base released this list of names of the dead in last night's DC-4 crash near Oakland, Calif.:
S/Sgt. KENNETH B. SHAPIRO, 23, husband of Mrs. Kenneth Shapiro, 905 West Summit, Roswell, N. M., and son of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Shapiro, Box 242, Stratford, N. J.
A/1c ROBERT E. HITCHCOCK, 22, son of George Hitchcock, 1712 Wood, Wheeling, W. Va.
A/1c JAMES E. McCLANAHAN, son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn McClanahan, Route 4, Morristown, Tenn.
A/2c NORMAN E. WILSON, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Wilson, 2424 Gaty, East St. Louis, Ill.
A/2c AMMYA B. PLACKER, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Placker, 112 Florida Avenue, Alamogordo, N. M.
A/3c JOSEPH W. MADIGAN, 21, son of Joseph Madigan, 15 Temple Place, East Aurora, N. Y.
A/1c BERNARD J. ROLLE, 24, son of Mrs. Anna A. Rolle, 1725 East 25th, Baltimore, Md.
A/1c HAROLD MALLOY, 23, son of Mrs. Anna Senft, 229 North Third, Coshocton, O., and Jacob Malloy, 524 South Chestnut, Comerstown, O.
A/1c VELDON L. WICHSTER, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wichster, West Concord, Minn.
A/3c JOSEPH L. DOBBS, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Dobbs, general delivery, Stanaford, W. Va.
A/2c BENNIE C. MABBITT, son of Coral Mabbitt, Box 32, Sheldon, Ill.
A/2c ELDRIDGE J. LARKINS, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle M. Ewen, Sheldon, Ill.
A/1c JAMES C. COOMER, son of Mrs. Blanche Coomer, 715 South Green, Belascoe, Ky.
S/Sgt. ROBERT P. MALADY, 21, husband of Mrs. Barbara Malady, 682 Parker, Newark, N. J.
A/1c WILLIAM M. SMART, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Smart, 857 Country Road, Pomona, Calif.
A/1c TROY MATLOCK, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Orlen J. Matlock, Route 2, Box 125, Mulgrow, Okla.
A/1c EUGENE G. GRANGER, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Granger, 1245 Carroll, Baltimore, Md.
A/2c PAUL G. MOORE, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy E. Moore, 7108 Dale Ave., Richmond Heights, Mo.
A/2c GEORGE E. BLAIR, 20, son of David C. Blair, 5206 California Ave., Seattle, Wash.
A/2c WILLIAM C. MICHAEL, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Michael Sr., Route 1, Oakfield, Tenn.
The five members of the crew were:
HARVEY W. ROGERS, 41, of 696 Glenside Avenue, Lafayette, chief pilot for Transocean Air Lines.
HERMAN E. HUM, 41, of 42 Lake Forest Drive, Daly City, a Transocean captain.
FRED W. PATCHETT, 37, of 2995 Summitt Drive, Burlingame, a co-pilot.
VELMA SANDRIDGE, 27, of 2205 East 15th Street, Oakland, stewardess.
MRS. F. E. CHAPMAN of El Paso, Tex., second stewardess.

Oakland Tribune California 1953-03-21
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!