PAN -- WRECKAGE -- CAMER PANS TO ENGINE STICKING THROUGH HANGER (CQ)



CU -- ENGINE



WRECKAGE SPREAD OVER GROUND



SCENE -- TAKEN FROM HANGER ROOF, SHOWING REMAINS OF BLIMP SPREADING OUT ALL OVER



RESCUE CREW STANDING AROUND



MAN ON HOIST



MEN WORKING AROUND WRECKAGE -- 2 SHOTS



CU -- LETTERING: KC-5 -- PAN OVER TO WRECKAGE



MORE MEN WORKING AROUND WRECKAGE




Initials



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A NAVY BLIMP...RETURNING FROM AN ATLANTIC PATROL ... EARLY TODAY (date - source) CRASHED AT THE LAKEHURST NAVAL AIR STATION IN NEW JERSEY ( place - source). ONE CREW MEMBER WAS KILLED ... SIX WERE INJURED ... THREE CRITICALLY. ELEVEN OTHERS ESCAPED UNHURT.

THE AIRSHIP ... 343 (three-hundred and forty-three) FEET LONG ... WAS TRYING TO LAND IN A HEAVY FOG. AFTER BEING WAVED OFF ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT ... THE 150-TON BLIMP CRASHED INTO A HANGER AT A SPEED OF 35 TO 40 MILES AN HOUR ON THE SECOND APPROACH.

THE ENGINES AND METAL GONDOLA JABBED THROUGH THE HANGER.

THE METAL FRAME OF THE HANGAR (CQ) PUNCTURED THE BLIMP'S RUBBERIZED NEOPRENE GAS BAG ... RELEASING A MILLION CUBIC FEET OF HELIUM.

THE EMPTY BAG WAS DRAPED PARTLY INSIDE ... AND PARTLY OUTSIDE THE HANGAR. THERE WAS NO FIRE.

MOST OF THE CREW ESCAPED DOWN LADDERS. BUT FOR OTHERS THERE WAS A LONG WAIT.

FOR LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE DAVID LOYD (CQ) OF VEGA, TEXAS (CQ), THERE WAS NO RESCUE. A RESERVIST DUE FOR RELEASE NEXT MONTH...HE WAS KILLED IN THE FORWARD PART OF THE GONDOLA.

ANOTHER OFFICER WITH HIM ... WAS TRAPPED FOR FIVE HOURS WHILE RESCUE WORKERS USED ACETYLENE TORCHES TO CUT THEIR WAY TO HIM.

A CRANE BROUGHT TO THE SCENE WAS UNABLE TO LOWER THE GONDOLA.

RESCUE WORKERS WERE SLOWED WHEN THEY HAD TO CUT THEIR WAY THROUGH THE ENDLESS FOLDS OF THE COLLAPSED BAG.

SHIRT-TAIL:
YOU'LL REMEMBER THAT OTHER CRASH AT LAKEHURST. THE DATE: MAY 6, 1937. THE GERMAN DIRIGIBLE HINDENBURG BURST INTO FLAMES WHILE LANDING. IT'S HIGHLY FLAMMABLE HYDROGEN EXPLODED ... AND 36 DIED. THE NAVY BLIMP WAS FILLED WITH HELIUM ... AND THAT MADE THE LIFE-AND-DEATH DIFFERENCE.

ONE OFFICER WAS KILLED TODAY AND 17 MEN INJURED AT LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY WHEN A NAVY BLIMP CRACKED UP IN A DENSE FOG. THE 343-FOOT BLIMP CAME ...

...IN OVER THE FIELD A FEW HOURS AFTER MID-NIGHT IN A REAL PEA-SOUP FOG. THE LIGHTER-THAN-AIR MACHINE CAME IN TOO LOW AND BEFORE THE CONTROL TOWER COULD WARN THE AIRSHIP OFF, IT SMASHED INTO THE ROOF OF A HANGER. THE GONDOLA WAS SMASHED AND THE BLIMP'S HUGE GAS BAG TRAPPED SURVIVORS STRUGGLING UNDERNEATH. ONE OFFICER WAS TRAPPED SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE HE WAS CUT LOOSE WITH ONLY MINOR INJURIES RESCUE WORKERS SAY IT WAS A WONDER THAT ANYONE GOT OUT ALIVE.

THE BLIMP WAS BEING TALKED DOWN THROUGH THE FOG. THE CREW NEVER SAW THE GROUND UNTIL AFTER THE CRASH.

AERIAL TRAGEDY AT LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY THIS MORNING .... TRAGEDY REMINISCENT OF A DISASTER 22 (twenty-two) YEARS AGO AT THE SAME LOCATION.

A FEW HOURS AFTER MID-NIGHT, A 343-FOOT LONG NAVY BLIMP TRIED TO REACH THE FIELD, COVERED BY DENSE FOG. A CONTROL TOWER SAW THAT IT WAS COMING IN TOO LOW ... TRIED TOO LATE TO WARN IT OFF. THE BLIMP --- THE NAVY'S LARGEST --- CRASHED INTO THE ROOF OF A HANGER. THE GONDOLA WAS SMASHED AND THE BLIMP'S HUGE GAS BAG TRAPPED SURVIVORS STRUGGLING UNDERNEATH IT. ONE OFFICER WAS KILLED ... 17 CREWMEN INJURED. RESCUE WORKERS SAID IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT ANY SURVIVED.