NEWSPAPER & ARCHIVE
HONOLULU, Jan. 24 — Six army fliers were killed tonight when two big bombing planes collided 1,000 feet over Luke Field and plunged to the ground in flames. The victims of one of Hawaii's worst aviation disasters comprised one officer and five enlisted men. Army authorities named them as :
Lieutenant William G. Beard, San Francisco.
Staff Sergeant Bernard F. Jablonowsky.
Privates John B. Hartman of Chicago;
Bruce Taylor, address not given, and two others named Gardner and Parkhurst.
Further identification or home addresses of the victims were not immediately available.
Two others aboard the planes escaped the shattering crash by bailing out in parachutes. They were Air Reserve Lieutenant Charles E. Fisher of Asheville, N. C , and a private named Lanigan. Each suffered minor lacerations and bruises in the collision, which occurred shortly after 7 P. M. [12:30 A. M. Saturday, Eastern standard time].
The planes collided with a roar heard virtually all over Honolulu, several miles away, and the glare of the burning ships was visible along Waikiki Beach, ten miles from Luke Field, which is on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The craft fell within 100 feet of the fleet air base gasoline tanks, but navy fire-fighters extinguished the flames before the tanks were endangered. The crash followed maneuvers in which eight bombing planes participated. They took off from the field about dusk and were noticed passing over Waikiki, flying under a clear sky. After a flight of about an hour and a half the planes turned toward Luke Field, part of which is used by the Army Air Corps and the rest by the navy air units.
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