Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2024 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Commercial Appeal Memphis, TN Wednesday, 13 February 1918 - Page 1 TWO AVIATORS ARE CRUSHED TO DEATH THOMAS C. ROGERS and P. B. COOLEY Die at Park Field MACHINES CRASH IN AIR Was First Fatal Accident Since Flying School Begun. Unfortunate Young Arkansan's Home was in Prairie Grove. COOLEY Lived at San Jose, Cal. - Machines, After Col- liding, Fell 300 Feet, Crushing Both Men to Death. PAUL B. COOLEY of San Jose, Cal., and THOMAS C. ROGERS of Prairie Grove, Ark., were instantly killed yesterday afternoon at 2:20 o'clock when the training biplanes they were pilotiing collided above the contractor's of- fice at Park Field. Both machines fell almost instantly to the ground. Both COOLEY and ROGERS were badly crushed by their fall, and death was instantaneous. Whether the crash of the machines or the fall to the ground killed the men will never be known. Both victims were student aviators who had each flown alone for a number of hours during their training at Park Field. COOLEY was the first student to make a solo flight at the Millington training school, and he was regarded as one of the best student flyers at the school. ROGERS too had had experience as a flyer and was known as a good aviator, considering the length of training he had received. Because of the great number of machines which are now constantly in the air at Park Field, the land field is divided in two. One half is known as "A" field and the other as "B" field and the flying students are divided and half ordered to fly from and alight in one field and the other half in the other. COOLEY was flying out of "B" field yesterday afternoon and ROGERS was flying out of "A" field. They had each been in the air about 15 minutes immediately prioer to the accident and both were turning to go to their land- ing places when the accident occurred. COOLEY was flying east and ROGERS was flying west. At the imaginary line which divides "A" and "B" fields both turned to the south to make a landing. According to eye- witnesses, neither student banked his machine steep enough to make a proper turn, with the result that both machines began skidding sideways toward each other. Both Machines Overturned. Both machines were at a height of approximately 300 feet, but ROGERS was bit higher than COOLEY and in going down was consequently going faster. Neither student had cut off his gas yet, it is said. ROGERS' machine skidded more than did COOLEY'S because of his greater speed, and his machine crashed into and through the tail of the fuselage of COOLEY'S biplance. Both machines turned completely over and then COOLEY'S plane made a straight nose dive for the earth. Still under power, it crashed into the ground nose first, com- pletely wrecking the machine. COOLEY was not thrown from the machine. ROGERS made an effort to straighten his machine out after the accident, but was too near the earth. He went hurtling down in a tail spin or corkscrew dive to the earth, crashing to a stop about 300 feet from the spot where COOLEY'S machine landed. Both Boys Horribly Crushed. Neither machine caught fire, which was in itself a very unusual occurrence, as fire usually follows the sudden crash of the engine against the earth. Both machines were smashed into a thousand bits and the engines were embedded in the ground to the depth of about two feet. The crash of the two speeding machines was heard all over the post grounds and hundreds began running toward the spot as they fell. They were quick to reach the wreckage and found both aviators still im- prisoned in the machines by their safety belts, which had not broken under the terrific strain of the col- lision. It was necessary to cut both boys out of the wreckage. The heads of both COOLEY and ROGERS were terribly crushed, as were their bodies. Nearly every large bone in both of them was broken by the collision and the fall to earth. There was no question of their death, and both bodies were removed to a room in the hospital building which was converted temporarily into a morgue. The bodies were later removed to the Keithly undertaking parlors at Millington. COOLEY's body will be sent to Ishpeming, Mich., to- day. He has relatives there. ROGERS' body will be sent to Prairie Grove, Ark. Too Low to Recover Poise. The accident happened at an altitude of 300 feet. Had the machines been higher - even up at 500 feet - it is possible that both would have been able to right their machines, had they retained their presence of mind, and to have descended in safety. That is based, of course, upon the assumption that the collision did not kill them, and it is hardly probable that it did, as both students were sitting in the back seats of their machines. Neither of the students had acquired what is known in aviation circles as "the feel of the ship." They had only been flying alone for several hours and both were still so unused to the air that it required all of their attention to control the ship. For that reason neither looked around him much. If they had been experienced fliers they would have been able to look outside their ships and would have avoided each other. Experienced airmen can control the ship by its "feel" without looking at their controls. Yesterday's accident which resulted in the death of the two aviators was the first serious mishap of any kind to come to the students at Park Field, and it was the first fatality. Without being either brutal or callous, it may be said that a few fatalities are expected to occur in the train- ing of aviators and that yesterday's accident was not en- tirely unexpected. It left the Park Field Aviation School stunned for a few minutes, but flying never ceased until sundown. COOLEY came to Park Field on Nov. 29 from the ground school of aeronautics at the Georgia Instituted of Tech- nology, Atlanta, Ga. ROGERS came to Park Field on Dec. 22 from the same ground school. Yesterday's accident was the first one for ROGERS, but COOLEY had a small one on his first solo flight. He smashed the landing gear of his machine when he came to earth. That was about one month ago. Both students were about 22 years old. They were popo- lar with their fellow students and were regarded by their officers as being good material for airmen. COOLEY was particularly quick in becoming adapted to the air and gave promise of being a crack aviator. HAS BROTHER IN FRANCE. Aviator COOLEY Expected Full Pilot's Papers Within a Few Days. San Jose, Cal., Feb. 12. - PAUL B. COOLEY was the son of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. COOLEY, formerly of Ishpeming, Mich., where he was born. He has two other brothers in the army. One of them, SEDGWICK COOLEY, is a sergeant in the 159th California Infantry at Camp Kearney, and another, WILL S. COOLEY, is with the 117th Engineers, a California organ- ization, already in service in France. A fourth brother, EDGERTON COOLEY, lives with his family at Columbus, Ohio. PAUL was born at Ishpeming, Mich., and was 22 years old. He entered the employ of the American Radiator Company at New York, Jan. 1, 1917, and enlisted in the aviation ser- vice in September. He went into training at Princeton Uni- veristy, Sept. 29, and had been flying alone for a month. A letter just received from his said that he expected to have his papers as a full-fledged pilot of the army service in a short time. COOLEY'S father is a special agent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company here. The family has made a wide circle of friends during their two years' residence in this city. Orders have been wired to ship the body to his birthplace at Ishpeming, Mich., for interment. ============================================================================== ===============================================================================