KC-135 Jet Tanker
Takeoff Crash at
Eielson AFB Snuffs
Out Nine Lives
FAIRBANKS Oft — Investigators
probed Thursday through the
smoldering, shattered wreckage of
a KC-135 jet tanker seeking the
cause of a takeoff crash Wednes
day night in which nine men died.
The heavily-loaded, four-engine
plane burst into flames and ex
ploded as it lifted into the air
on a scheduled Strategic Air Com
mand refueling mission from Eiel
son Air Force Base 26 miles south
of here.
The KC-135 was on temporary
duty in Alaska from Castle Air
Force Base, Calif. The seven crew
members killed were from the 93rd
Bomb Wing there.
An air policeman also was kill
ed when a guard house directly
below the tanker was demolished
as its thousands of gallons of fuel
blew up.
Authorities said it was not
known whether the ninth casualty
was a serviceman hitching a ride
on the plane or someone on the
ground.
The big tanker crashed about
200 yards from the end of the run
way as it took off in heavy ground
fog. Wreckage was strewn over the
Alaska Highway, which skirts the
base, and traffic was blocked until
a bypass was bulldozed.
The scene was put under tight
security guard by SAC officials.
Flights continued as usual from
the airbase.
Even as flames towered into the
sky from the burning plane another
tanker took off to keep the ren
dezvous with a waiting bomber the
ill-fated KC-135 was to have made.
BILL RAY OF ABC WILL
ADDRESS NATIONAL LIQUOR
CONFERENCE IN LOUISVILLE
JUNEAU UP) — Chairman Bill
Ray of the State Alcoholic Bever
age Control Board said Thursday
he had been invited to address the
National Conference of State
Liquor Administrators at its 1963
meeting in Louisville June 12.
The conference represents 31
states which control sales of liquor,
as well as Baltimore and the Dis
trict of Columbia.
Ray said he had been asked by
Gilbert McQuay, executive secre
tary-treasurer of the conference,
to discuss Alaska’s liquor program
and problems.
Alexander
utomotive
DIAL 2532
Heusion ft Betty Alexander
! Will Not Issue Bonds For
Improvements of Airport*
At Fairbanks, Anchorage
ANCHORAGE UR — The state
will not issue revenue bonds this
year to finance improvements at
Anchorage and Fairbanks Inter
national Airports, Norman L.
Schwalb, special assistant to Pub
lic Works Commissioner Richard
Downing, announced here.
Schwalb said some improvements
at the two airports would be made
out of money in hand, carriers
would not be asked to sign long
term airport use agreements, and
the present schedule of landing
fees would remain unchanged for
the present.
Schwalb and other state officials
had met here in an all-day session
with representatives of the carriers
using the two airports. The carriers
were unanimously opposed to the
state’s proposal to issue $2 mil
lion in revenue bonds to finance
improvements.
One carrier representative esti
mated it would cost state taxpayers
about $250,000 in interest and
handling charges if the bonds were
issued.
Schwalb, in answer to questions,
said there is about $766,000 in
special airport funds and another
$400,000 should be available by the
end of the year. He stressed there
is no guarantee the legislature
would keep this fund alive.
R. W. Chambers of Northwest
Orient Airlines, spokesman for the
carriers, said the carriers “have
no urgent requirements for imme
diate improvements.”
The state, in view of the unani
mity of carriers in opposition to
its bonding proposal, did not press
for the long-term airport users’
agreements it decided earlier it
must have before issuing bonds.
Later in the day, Schwalb met
with the international carriers
using the airports to discuss bond
ed fuel use.
International carriers may use
bonded fuel, fuel on which there is
no state tax, on flights going tc
or coming from a foreign country.
The state reportedly wants to im
pose a tax on this fuel.
The carriers and state officials
agreed to meet again later in the
year to discuss mutual problems.
The meeting was tentatively set
for September.
f
NOME
PLUMBING
SHOP
COMPLETE
PLUMBING SUPPLIES
DIAL
2511 Days 2485 Nights
PIONEER CARD PARTIES
THIRD GAME SATURDAY, MARCH 2
8 P.M. at PIONEER IGLOO
OTHER DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
- AND -
AFTER THE CARD GAMES PLAY
ALASKA’S FAVORITE GAME
PRIZES FOR EACH GAME OF SERIES
AND GRAND PRIZES AT END OF SERIES
$1.25
Admission
$1.25
[Four Russian
Planes Fly Over
Carrier Forrestal
WASHINGTON UP! — Four Rus
sian long - range reconnaissance
planes flew over the aircraft car
rier Forrestal last Friday south
east of the Azores, Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara an
nounced yesterday.
McNamara told a news confer
ence that other US. carriers in
North Pacific and North Atlantic
also had been flown over by four
engine planes called Bears since
Jan. 27.
“None of the Soviet aircraft
showed hostile intent,” McNamara
said of the four planes which flew
over the Forrestal.
He said Air Force F-102 inter
ceptor planes followed the Rus
sian reconnaissance craft from east
of Iceland for several hundred
miles, and other U.S. planes fol
lowed the Bears for several hun
dred miles back toward Russia
afterward.
“The Soviet aircraft apparently
flew from bases in the U.S.S.R. in
two flights of two aircraft each,
with the flights separated by ap
proximately two hours,” McNa
mara said.
The first two passed over the
carrier task force at 9:08 a.m. one
remaining at about 30,000 feet
“while the second one came in
underneath the 2,000-foot overcast
i and overflew the Forrestal twice,”
McNamara said.
Planes launched from the super
carrier kept visual contact with the
Bears for some 150 miles as they
withdrew to the north, McNamara
said.
The same high-low procedure
was followed by the second flight
of two planes at 11:10 a.m., Mc
Namara said.
McNamara replied with a fla1
“no” when asked whether any So
: viet reconnaissance aircraft hac
operated over the North Americar
Continent.
He also disclosed that the car
rier Kittyhawk was flown over
by long-range Russian reconnais
sance planes in the North Pacific
several times from Jan. 27, that
the carrier Princeton was flown
over in the North Pacific between
Feb. 13 and 16 and that the carrier
Enterprize was overflown in the
North Atlantic on Feb. 12 and 13.
Asked why he waited this long
to announce the flights, McNamara
said the information came in
slowly and it was decided to wait.
McNamara said overflights by
short range and medium range
Russian craft are not unusual but
that the long range visits are new.
He acknowledged that “we
periodically overfly Soviet vessels.”
He described it as a “perfectly
legal operation, over international
waters” and indicated the United
States was not too concerned that
the oncoming planes might attack
because they were obviously
reconnaissance versions rather than
bombers.
Incidents in the North Pacific,
the Navy said, occurred at points
near the known Soviet air bases
on Kamchatka Peninsula.
Dial 2217
ARCTIC OIL
DELIVERY
—AUTOMATIC SERVICE—
Furance Stove
ou on
j
High School Drop-Outs
In Alaska Below
The National Average
WASHINGTON UP) — The prob
lem of high school drop-outs ap
pears to be less critical in Alaska
and the Pacific Northwest than in
other parts of the nation, according
to National Education Assn, statis
tics released Thursday.
The association said that in 1960
Oregon ranked first in the nation
in the percentage of youths be
tween 14 and 17 enrolled in school
with 93.9 per cent. Idaho was sec
ond with 93.1 per cent and Wash
ington fourth with 93 per cent.
Alaska had 87.8 per cent, above
the national average of 87.4 per
cent.
In the same year Alaska and
the northwest were also ranked
near the top in the number of
school years completed by persons
age 25 and older.
The median number in Alaska
and Washington was 12.1 and in
Idaho and Oregon was 11.8. The
median figure means there were
as many persons above it as below
it. The national median was 10.6.
Washington was tied with Utah
for the lowest percentage of
youths failing the selective service
metal test in 1961 with 4.7 per
cent. Alaska, Oregon and Idaho
were all well below the national
average of 23 per cent.
Here is the estimated schoolage
population (age 5-17) for Alaska
and the Pacific Northwest as of
July 1, 1962: Washington 765,004;^
Oregon 472,303; Idaho 193,028;'
Alaska 62,021.
Chris Berg, Inc., Is
Apparent Low Bidder
For Savoonga Airstrip
JUNEAU l/Pi — Seven bids were
opened yesterday on the construc
tion of a 4,000-foot landing strip
and access road at Savoonga, Pub
lic Works Commissioner Richard
Downing said.
The apparent lower bid on the
job of $762,832, submitted by Chris
Berg, Inc., Seattle.
The Engineers’ estimate on the
project was $1,351,050.
Other bids were: Rivers-Prest
wood, Spenard, $893,725; S.S. Mul
lens, Seattle, $917,935; Pacific Gen
eral Construction and Studnek,
Spenard, $972,420; Morrison-Knud
sen, Seattle, $976,397; Stock &
Grove, Anchorage, $1,016,490; and
Central Construction Co., Seattle,
$1,243,470.
GOLD DIGGERS LEAGUE
High team game; Outsiders 766,
Quartet 721, Fakers 719.
High team series: Polar 2093,
Fakers 2081, Quartet 2066.
High individual game: men, B.
Emmons 220, C. Glavinovich 212.
Women, L. Oliver 165, M. Durrett
154.
High individual series: B. Em
mons 590, C. Glavinovich 575, W.
Felton 478. Women, M. Durrett
447, M. Chaloupka 429, L. Oliver
424.
Quartet
Flyers
North Star
Polar
Outsiders
Fakers
W L
49 31
46 34
43 37
35 45
34 46
33 47
The Doral Beach Hotel in Miami
has a floating bar propelled by a
water cycle for bathers who don’t
want to swim ashore for a martini.
Arctic Club
Race Prizes
March 29 & 30
Dog Races
$2,000
Sno-Traveler Races
$300.oo
Children’s Races
$55.oo
To Enter Any Race
See
TOM MARTIN
This Ad Courtesy of
Nome Liquor Store
ARCTIC LEAGUE
High team game: Alaska Air
lines 914, Lions Club 884.
High team series: Alaska Air
lines 2624, Shrine Club 2583, FAA
Tigers 2502.
1 High individual game: G. Lie
! nard and C. Glavinovich 200, D.
Deems 188, A. Sahlin 184.
| High individual series: C. Gla
i vinovich 544, G. Waldheim 527, G.
Lienard 523.
Alaska Airlines
Shrine Club
FFA Tigers
Polar Eskimos
Polaris Hotel
Lions Club
W
52
45
43
42
33
10
L
24
31
33
34
43
34
Charlie’s
Barber Shop
Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Phone 2343
Moonlight Water the Year ’Round
Direct From the Springs
Naturally Softened and Pure
No Tank Too Small — No Bucket Too Large
Dial 2475 -- 9 to 5 o’clock
Dial 2280 - After 5 & Weekends
00NSHINE
ATER
“ Best Water In Alaska ”