THE *
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMgER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIV No. 42. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1952 Per Copy—15^
Another Navy
Plane Down
On Ice Island
ANCHORAGE, (/P) — A Navy
patrol bo'mber has landed at
Thule Air Force Base in northern
Greenland after a flight over the
North Pole, the Alaskan A i r
Command reported early Monday.
It was not known whether the
ski-equipped bomber, carrying 12
men on the trail-blazing flight,
had actually put down at the
pole, as planned. The plane was
to refuel at Thule and fly back
to Point Barrow, headquarters of
the Navy’s “Operation Ski Jump.”
The plane was one of the two
P2V Neptune bombers, each with
12 men aboard, which set out late
Saturday from Point Barrow to
attempt the first landings in his
tory on the stategic polar ice cap
at the top of the world.
The two planes landed on “Ice
Island T - 3,” several hundred
miles short of the pole. Engine
trouble forced one of the bomb
ers to remain behind on the island
yesterday while the plane piloted
by L.t. Comdr. C.D. Kephart, Bre
merton, Wash., winged its way
toward the pole. This was the
aircraft which put down in Green
land.
The Navy said the 12-man crew
of the stranded plane, command
ed by Comdr. V. J. Coley, Oak
land Calif., who was in charge of
the polar hop, had plenty of food
and heat and there was no emer
gency.
Hear Adm. Edgar A. Cruise,
commander of the Alaskan Sea
if
Frontier, announced after confer
ences at Elmendorf Air Force
Base here, an Air Force C-54 will
fly a replacement engine and six
Navy maintenance experts with
specialized equipment to the
downed Neptune on the ice island.
•
It was the second major mishap
of “Operation Ski Jump,” the
Navy’s Arctic research project.
Late last month a “Flying Labora
tory” plane lost its landing gear
on a takeoff from an ice floe 500
miles from the pole. Nine men
were marooned for four days.
Son of Gen. Van Fleet
Listed as Missing in Action
SEOUL, Korea, (lP)—Lt. James
A. Van Fleet, Jr., a B-26 pilot
and son of the US. Eighth Army
commander, Saturday was listed
by the U.S. Fifth Air Force as
missing in action with his two
man bomber crew.
The Air Force said their plane
failed to return Friday morning
from a night mission near Sun
chon in North Korea. It was the
26 - year - old Van Fleet’s third
night mission.
General Van Fleet received
word from Lt. Gen. Frank F. Ev
erest, commanding general of the
Fifth Air Force, at an air base in
South Korea which the Eighth
Army commander was visiting
with Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway,
Supreme Allied commander.
The Air Force said Van Fleet
and his crew went out on their
mission Thursday night but were
diverted from .their primary tar
get by fog and low clouds.
Training School for ANG
Noncoms To Start Here
A non - commissioned officers
training school starts this week
with a group of 27 from all over
the Second Division participating
for a period of two weeks.
The boys are housed at the
gymnasium at Nome Field.
Officers in charge of the train
ing school are headed by Lt. Col.
D. N. Cameron and Major Robert
Farrell, Sgt. Chester Strohmeyer
and Sgt. William Crawford, all
from Juneau as well as four of the
First Battalion officers, who are
Lt. Don Hendershot, Sgt. Gus
Hinson, Sgt. Howard Lehto, and
Sgt. (Lucky) Decubber.
This is the first school of its
kind to be held in Alaska and it
is estimated the cost will be about
$10,000. The noncommissioned of
ficers participating are boys who
have been in the guard for two
years or more, many of whom
have been in the service as well.
The area included in the vil
lages represented, go as far south
as Unalakleet and north to Point
Hope, Fort Yukon and Kivalina.
Plane Crashes Into
Heart of Queens
NEW YORK, (JP) — A twin
engined cargo* plane smashed with
a flaming roar into the heart of
populous Queens Saturday, kill
ing at least seven persons and
possibly many more.
The big plane dropped from
rainy skies, ripped through two
buildings, then barreled into an
other one, setting several struc
tures aflame.
Officials at New York Interna
tional Airport, on the south side
of Queens, said the plane was
trying to make an instrument
landing, and fell short.
It swooped down out of the
east. One wing of the crashing
plane slammed a cruising police
car in the street, killing a police
inspector, Thomas Boylan, inside.
The crash was the fifth major
air disaster in the greater metro
politan area within recent months.
Saturday’s crash turned more
than a block-long area into a
scorching inferno. Rescuers were
kept at a distance, and there was
little way of knowing extent of
the casualties.
A heavy rain was falling, but
airport officials said a visibility
of two miles, and a ceiling of 400
feet prevailed, adequate for land
ing. United States Airlines, a car
go carrier, said it believed the
plane was one of its C-4 trans
ports, with a crew of two inbound
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
SOLVENCY ASSURED OF
MATANUSKA VALLEY BANK
JUNEAU, (JP)—Keith Wildes, a
member of the Territorial Bank
ing Board, said yesterday the sol
vency of the Matanuska Valley
Bank at Palmer has been virtual
ly assured and an expected meet
ing of the board will probably
not materialize.
Wildes said he had been advised
by telephone from Anchorage that
Robert A. Baker, who purchased
the bank shortly ahead of the
board’s deadline for an increase
in its assets, had offered to pro
vide $105,000 for that purpose.
Soviet Moves Aim
At Settlement
Of Differences
MOSCOW, (/P) — A half-hour
conversation between Prime Min
ister Stalin and India’s ambassa
dor to Moscow has produced a
new call for the world’s “top
people” to meet in an attempt to
settle major international prob
lems.
“There is no outstanding prob
lem now dividing the world which
could not be settled with discus
sion and negotiation. . . . Every
effort should be made to get the
top people together,” said the In
dian ambassador, Sir Sarvapalli
Radhakrishnan, after his conver
sation Saturday night with Stalin.
Stalin’s interview with the In
dian diplomat was viewed here as
another in a series of important
Soviet moves apparently aimed at
fostering the hope that the div
ided world can settle its differ
ences peaceably.
The Indian ambassador talked
with Stalin during a farewell call
before leaving April 8 for India to
become his country’s vice presi
dent.
“It would be unwise to bang
the door against every approach
and give up the task as impos
sible,” said the ambassador after
the talk adding, “No effort is
wasted. And every effort should
be made to get the top people
together.”
University Student To
Bike To Anchorage Over
The Alaska Highway
SEATTLE, (/P)—A young Min
nesotan who wants to “get away
from it all” has headed out of
Seattle, bound for Alaska on a
bicycle.
Arthur “ Bud ” ' Ehlers, 23, a
University of Minnesota student
who hails from Parkers Prairie,
Minn., said he expects to make
Anchorage by May on his three
geared bicycle.
Anchorage by way of the Al
aska Highway, is 3,095 miles from
Seattle.
“When I get there, I’ll look for
a job and try to get straightened
out on some of my troubles,” said
Ehlers.
He explained that he had been
“carrying too much of a load in
school and almost had a nervous
breakdown.”
“I guess I’m like a lot of guys
who wonder what their goal in
life should be, what it’s all about.
And I’m taking this way of try
ing to straighten out my think
ing, get squared away with my
self and life again.”
Ehlers said that his father, the
Rev. George Ehlers, a Lutheran
minister, doesn’t know about his
trip. He’s written to tell him about
it.
April 5 Is A Big Day
For This Family
INDIANAPOLIS, {/P) — April 5
was Paul E. Fangman, Jr.’s 20th
birthday anniversary, the 19th for
his wife, Carole. They didn’t cele
brate together. Mrs. Fangman was
in the hospital giving birth to
their first child, Lee Carole.
Costello Convicted of
Contempt of U.S. Senate
NEW YORK, UP) — Swarthy,
croaky - voiced Frank Costello,
who twice stalked out of a Senate
crime committee hearing rather
than answer questions, was con
victed Monday night of contempt
of the United States Senate.
The 61-year-old gambler and
underworld figure, who' four
times previously beat government
efforts to put him behind bars,
faces a possible maximum sen
tence of 10 years in prison—plus
$10,000 in fines. He was continued
in $5,000 bail pending sentencing
tomorrow.
Government Prosecutor Myles
J. Lane, who finally tripped the
Italian-born racketeer hailed the
jury’s guilty verdict as a “turn
ing point”—and said it was proof
that no man “no matter how cun
ning or powerful he might seem
to be, could be bigger than the
government itself.”
The usual calm and poised Cos
tello, visibly shaken by the ver
dict, had “nothing to say.”
Voice of America
Hit Hardest By
House Budget Cuts
WASHINGTON, (JP) — A cut
of almost one-third in the State
Department budget boosted over
the lV^-billion-dollar mark Sat
urday the total the House has
slashed so far from President Tru
man’s 1953 budget.
A $1,016,923,731 bill appropri
ating money to finance the State,
Justice and Commerce Depart
ments and the federal courts for
the fiscal year starting next July
1 passed the House 200 to 55 Fri
day night after record slashes had
been made in State Department
funds.
The budget-cutting drive that
developed during an 11-hour ses
sion hit hardest at the controver
sial “Voice of America” program.
The budget for the “Voice” and
related foreign information and
education programs was cut al
most in half by a combination of
Republicans and southern Demo
crats.
Left in the bill as it went to
the Senate was a ban against set
ting up a diplomatic mission in
Vatican City without prior Senate
confirmation of an envoy to head
it.
10th U. S. Jet Ace
SEOUL, Korea, (^P)—Rain and
clouds over Korea Monday morn
ing grounded United Nations
Command warplanes and made
life miserable for the foot soldier
at the front.
Only weather reconnaissance
planes took to the air, said a
U.S. Fifth Air Force spokesman.
He added “it was raining all over
the peninsula.”
On Sunday U.S. Sabre jet pilots
reported they destroyed four MIG
jets. One of the kills was credited
to Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe, Cass
polis, Mich. It made him Ameri
ca’s 10th jet ace.
U.N. and Red patrols skirmish
ed lightly on the muddy battle
front Monday morning.
\
Two-Million Vote
Expected Illinois
Primary Tuesday
(By the Associated Press)
Names made the political news
Monday on the eve of a possible
two-million vote turnout for Il
linois’ presidential preferential
primary.
Illinois has 4,818,000 registered
voters. A two-million ballot Tues
day was looked for because of a
happy weather forecast and steam
generated by stump speeches and
write-in campaigns.
The primary is strictly a popu
larity poll. Results are not bind
ing on delegates to the presiden
tial nominating convention, al
though they may influence lean
ings.
Sen. Taft and Gen. Eisenhower
seem headed toward a possible
deadlock at the GOP presidential
nominating convention in July.
Taft generally is conceded to
have twice as many delegates as
Eisenhower now but an apparent
trend recently is to* split state
support between them. Hence,
they could come down to the wire
practically neck-and-neck.
Taft and former governor Stas
sen of Minnesota, who also seeks
the GOP nomination stump-tour
ed Illinois all last week. Riley
Bender of Chicago is their only
opposition on the ballot but an
Eisenhower write-in campaign is
being pushed.
Sen. Kefauver of Tennessee is
unopposed in Illinois’ Democratic
primary.
At a Chicago school editors con
ference Sunday, Kefauver and
Stassen were asked if they would
accept a vice-presidency nomina
tion. Kefauver said no. Stassen
declined to “speculate” on any
thing but the presidency.
Rep. Hugh Scott Jr., of Pennsyl- .
vania, former GOP national chair
man, said in Richmond, Va.: “The
best thing Taft could do to serve
his party and nation would be to
second the nomination of Ike at
the convention.”
Gov. Theodore Roosevelt Mc
Keldin of Maryland met Eisen
hower for lunch in Paris Sunday.
Afterwards, the governor said
they hadn’t talked about when the
general would come back to this
country but that “I got the feel
ing he intends to do something
promptly, without delay.”
Alaska Steamship Co.
Picketed for 2nd Day
SEATTLE, i/P)—Picket lines of
the Marine Firemen’s Union Mon
day held the Alaska Steamship
Co.’s freighter “Susitna” idle for
the second day in a dispute over
overtime pay.
And the union threatened to
pull off its crews as fast as other
Alaska Steam vessels reach port.
D. E. Skinner, vice president
and general manager of Alaska
Steam, described the strike “as a
direct violation of the contract,”
which “calls for no work stoppage
in its duration.”
The company said it could give
no assurance as to future sched
uled departures for Alaska.