INQUIRY INTO CRASH OF TWA PLANE STARTS.

Wilmington, Del., Nov. 19, (AP) -- The crash of a four-engined Constellation that killed all five occupants while attempting to land at the New Castle County airport was being investigated today by the Civil Aeronautics Authority and officials of the Trans World Airlines.
The big plane undershot the north-south runway of the field near here yesterday, struck a dirt embankment and burst into flames before rescue crews could reach the occupants who had been on a routine flight.
"Several eye witnesses were present and saw the airplane make what appeared to be a normal approach for a landing," a TWA statement said, "when it was apparent that the plane's landing gear struck a ditch just at the end of the field."
"This impact threw the airplane out of control and it crashed."
"This impact threw the airplane out of control and it crashed." [sic]
Killed were Capt. FRANCIS X. WINKLER, 28, of Buffalo, N. Y.; Capt. E. L. CHRISTENSEN, 33, of Wilmington, Del.; Capt. VIRGIL G. KENNEDY, 33, Northeast, Md.; Flight Engineer RICHARD DE CAMPO, 28, of New Garden Hills, N. Y.; all TWA pilots, and HERBERT M. DOWSETT, JR., 29, of Compton, Md., and Honolulu, a civil aeronautics inspector.
The plane's wreckage was strewn over a 100-yard square area. Most of the right wing and one motor lay 50 feet in front of the blackened fuselage which settled into the soft, grassy earth upside down. The three other motors were twisted by the flames from the plane's main section.

Corpus Christi Times Texas 1947-11-19
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!