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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 9, 1951
Four Americans Die In Mexican Plane Crash
Guadalajara, Mexico—(U.P.)—Twenty-six persons including four American tourists were killed yesterday when a Mexican airliner crashed into a 9,000-foot peak of the western Sierra Madres and exploded with a blast that set the mountain top afire.
Cincinnati Tense As Ohio Rises
The Ohio river's flood crest rolled towards the heavily-populated cities of Cincinnati and Louisville today, leaving thousands of homeless and millions of dollars' damage in its wake.
By UNITED PRESS
The crest was expected to hit Cincinnati tomorrow at 61.5 feet. Officials said 706 families and 116 businesses had been forced to seek higher ground in the area and riverfront streets were under water.
A cold snap which had slowed the flood waters ended, but Red Cross officials said they did not expect a drive would rise with the temperature.
A 28-foot flood wall protected Louisville, where a 37-foot crest was due Friday.
Flood walls protected most other river front cities. The major exception was at Cattlettsburg, Ky., where the Ohio had done its worst damage.
The Red Cross regional disaster headquarters at nearby Ashland, Ky., said early today that Catlettsburg's entire river front section was under water.
Ralph Gentile, in charge of the headquarters, estimated that 200 families—the equivalent of 900 persons—had either moved to higher ground or were "sweating it out" in the second floors of their homes.
The flood waters lapped up to the first floor level in the stricken district, Mr. Gentile said. Water in the business district ranged from five to 11 feet and the only way of entering the city of 5,000 was by a circuitous route through the surrounding hills.
Mr. Gentile added, however, that the Ohio flood was not as disastrous as expected. He predicted a sharp drop in the river as the flood crest passed.
Nevertheless, some 2,000 persons had been evacuated by today in Ohio. West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. Col. J. L. Persons of the army engineers at Cincinnati predicted flood damage will total "several million dollars."
Luckily, the return of balmy weather to the Ohio valley did not carry the threat of more showers and thunderstorms. Red Cross officials also said they did not fear fresh runoffs from the Ohio's swollen tributaries.
The flood area's springlike weather was matched over most of the nation west of the Appalachians. Temperatures rose 42 degrees to a high of 61 at Moline, Ill., yesterday and 40-degree readings were common as far north as the Dakotas and Montana early today.
Dr. Wilson Elected Head of Society
Dr. Robert W. Wilson, associate professor of zoology, has been elected president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Dr. Wilson is associate curator of vertebrate paleonology in the Museum of Natural History.
He holds three degrees from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to 1947, when he joined the KU faculty, he was for eight years curator of vertebrate paleontology and a member of the geology faculty at the University of Colorado.
As president of the society, Dr. Wilson will be in charge of the next annual meeting at New Orleans in November.
Trailmobile built the first freight trailer for motor vehicles in 1912. It was a pygmy by today's trailer standards, carrying only 1,000 pounds of goods.
♦ Rescue brigades set out at dawn from the nearby Rancho El Mosco to reach the wreckage of the twin-engined DC-3 airliner a few miles from the village of Talpa de Allende, 100 miles west southwest of Guadalajara. They were halted last night by darkness.
A rancher on horseback who climbed to the scene late yesterday reported all aboard "perished horribly." He was prevented for more than three hours from approaching the area because flaming gasoline touched off a series of brush fires.
Edd Johnson, 48, identified by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the victims, had been a newspaperman for 30 years. He was born in Winfield, Kan., and was on the rewrite desk of the Chronicle. He was on a leave of absence until May and he and his wife had been living in Colima and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The Americans aboard in addition to Mr. Johnson, were tentatively identified as Dr. J. Ingler, Dr. Hays and R. S. Hall. All were believed to be from California.
They boarded the plane at the rustic coastal resort of Puerto Valarta for the 125-mile flight to Guadalajara.
The plane rose swiftly to clear the mountains which rise abruptly from the coast but crushed 20 minutes from the coast and crashes from the Puertorico Vallarta airfield.
There was no explanation. Radio contact was lost shortly after takeoff.
Those aboard included three crew members, two Mexican infants, and several women."
It was the second air disaster in Mexico within 24 hours but the first for the airline in five years. Jorge Pasquel, Mexican millionaire and former baseball czar, perished with five other persons Monday night on the private plane crashed in the eastern Sierra Madres near the Gulf coast.
The airliner was of the Mexican Aviation company (CMA), an affiliate of Pan American. It took off from Puerto Vallarta airfield at 2:30 p.m. EST and vanished. Three hours later the smoking wreckage was spotted from the air.
Rescue brigades rushed in jeeps and on mule-back toward the site of the crash but darkness intervened and they paused for the night at the nearby Rancho El Mosco.
Identification of the Americans was delayed because telephones to the hotels in Puerto Vallarta are down at night. A spokesman for the airlines said the "only chance" of identifying them immediately was to check hotels early today.
Try sprinkling ground nutmeg on vanilla ice cream for a new flavor treat.
Italian Senate Scene of Red Instigated Fight
Rome — (U.P.) — Communists touched off a slugging, scratching free-for-all fight in the Italian senate today during debate on the Paris accords to rearm West Germany.
One senate usher was injured in the brawl before Senate president Cesare Merzagora sounded the emergency alarm bells which suspended debate for an hour.
The fist-swinging brawl w a sparked by Communist Sen. Emilio Sereni who rose to defend his record in the last war and answer charges he "stabbed Italian soldiers in the back" while working as a saboteur in occupied France.
Cat calls and interruptions from the extreme right-wing MSI (Italian Socialist Movement) continued until Sereni made a scathing remark on the latter-day Fascists.
The MSI group leaped to their feet. Shouting Communists and left wing Socialists met them in the middle of the Senate floor.
Cries of "assassins!" and "murdering saboteurs!" rang through the air as the two groups milled about, swapping punches and shoving. No senator was injured but an attendant was hurt trying to separate the brawling law-makers.
"These corpses who have been handed down from Fascism," he cried.
It was the first real fight to break out in the Senate since the ratification debate began Feb. 26 on the Paris accords to rearm Western Germany.
The debate is expected to end Friday or Saturday with a solid vote of approval which will seal Italy's ratification of the historic accords. The lower chamber approved them Dec. 23.
Tool Engineers Set Meet Tomorrow
The American Society of Tool Engineers will hold an election of officers at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Fowler shops.
After the election, Roy H. Stout, president of Magic Circle Tool and Engineering company will speak. His topic will be "Reinforced Plastic Tooling, Materials, Processes and Techniques."
Mr. Stout will be introduced by Philip Fleming, plastics engineer for Bendix Aviation corporation and program chairman of the Kansas City chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
Refreshments will be served.
More than one billion passenger journeys are made annually on British railways, of which over 200,000 are made on workingmen's tickets in the morning hours for one penny a mile.
Box Office opens Today
For
UNIVERSITY THEATRE PRODUCTION RICHARD III
By William Shakespeare
But officials do not believe the Russians have built the bombers in great numbers yet.
The Air Force will not say how many wings of B-47s it has, but there are several of them in operation now. They are stationed in England and North Africa as well as in the U.S. None has been stationed in the Pacific.
The B-52 recently went into production. The first of these inter-continental jet heavies is scheduled to go into a strategic air wing some time late this spring.
Students present ID cards for reserved seats. Box Office, basement of Green hall, open daily 10-12 and 2-5; Saturday 10-12.
On May day last year, the Soviets first displayed their two new types of bombers. One is known as type 39 and is a medium bomber similar to the B-47. The other is type 37 comparable in size to the B-52 heavy bomber.
Russian Jet Bombers Behind in Production
Air Force Chief of Staff Nathan F. Twining said recently that the Soviet long-range Air Force still consists largely of 1,200 TU-4 medium bombers similar to our conventional type B-29s. Twining said the TU-4 is not capable of round-trip sorties against U.S. bases without refueling.
Washington—(U.P.)—Russia has long-range jet bombers similar to the U.S. Air Force's B-52 and B-47 bombers, but informed sources said today that the Soviet production schedule is substantially behind that of the United States.
German Club Set For 5 Tomorrow
Russia does not have anything comparable to this country's B-36 heavy bomber which, the Air Force says, will be replaced entirely by the much faster B-52s in 1957.
The Air Force's goal is a strategic air command of 54 jet wings by July 1, 1957, to be made up of B-52 and B-47 bombers and F-84 fighters for long-range escorts for the bombers. The Air Force will
Klaus Berger, associate professor of art history, will compare German and American universities in his talk to the German club at 5 p.m. tomorrow in 502 Fraser.
Prof. Berger has studied in several German universities and was a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Cologne in 1954. He came to the United States 15 years ago and has been teaching in American universities for 13 years.
not break down the 54 wings by each of the three types. But it is believed they will include about 10 heavy wings, about 35 medium and the rest fighter escorts.
The 30 planes in a heavy bomber wing,45 in a medium bomber wing and 75 in an F-84 wing.
Almost all of the strategic air command's 54 wings are reported to be in existence now. The problem is to get them all converted to jets.
Russia has the world's largest air force. It is reported to have about 20,000 first-line combat aircraft of all types compared to the 3,650 Germany had when it launched World War II. The Air Force has less than half the number in the Soviet force, but has a much greater percentage of jets.
MONDAY, MARCH 14
Hoch Auditorium 6:45
$1.00 per person
Tickets at Union Concession Stand
Louis "Sachmo" Armstrong Saturday, March 12 Student Union BALLROOM
All School dance sponsored by IFC. Tickets on sale NOW in the Student Union. $1 per ticket