Eureka, CO Plane Crash while Diving to Restore Man's Hearing, Apr 1928

DIVE TO RESTORE HEARING OF MAN FATAL TO THREE

EUREKA, COLO., CRAFT UNABLE TO COME OUT OF TAILSPIN

William Spaletta, Larry Beatty and Billy Winzel, were killed when a plane owned and piloted by Spaletta crashed near Eureka, Cali.

At Eureka, Colo., three men are dead because a musician whose hearing was impaired, believed an airplane dive from great height would restore notes on an orchestra.

Wing Buckled

The musician persuaded an aviator and a fellow musician to attempt the dive. An airplane wing which buckled as the flyer tried to check the drop sent the trio hurling 3,500 feet to earth, where their crumpled plane burned before the bodies could be extricated. Several hundred persons saw the crash.

The dead:

WILLIAM SPALETTA, world war flyer.
WILLIARD WINZEL, 45, pianist and composer, whose hearing was growing defective to an extent which hampered his work.
LARRY BEAUTY, musician and friend of Winzel.

The plane fell with such force that the engine was buried in the earth.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 30 Apr 1928
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!