Aeronautics: Ludington’s First

The Law of Averages, which allowed planes of the Ludington Line to fly 10,000 trips between New York, Philadelphia and Washington without accident, balanced the score with fearful vengeance one day last week. A fast Lockheed Orion of the line crashed and burned at Camden. N. J. killing all occupants, the pilot & four passengers.

Pilot Floyd C. Cox took off from Newark Airport for what ordinarily would have been a 68-min. express flight to Washington. This time a special stop was to be made at Camden to discharge one of thepassengers, Francis R. Ehle, president of International Resistance Co. Besides two other paying passengers Pilot Vernon Lucas was deadheading on the plane to get home early.

Functioning apparently perfectly the ship circled the airport at Camden with landing lights on. Pilot Cox had throttled down to land, when, for no reason that observers could see, the ship lost flying speed and dived straight down upon a golf course adjoining the field. To all within the cabin, Death came instantaneously.

The fast express service had to be suspended until the company could put another Lockheed into service this week. But on the regular Ludington plane-per-hour service next day planes were filled to capacity on three flights.

A pathetic memento was left by Pilot Cox. Earlier in the week he had borrowed $20 from the Camden passenger terminal. He left a note in the cashdrawer: “I 0 U $20. If I crack up, present this to my wife for collection.” Just before taking off from Newark on his last flight he sent a message over the company’s teletype: “I have the $20. Have a bodyguard meet my plane.”