Quay, New Mexico Airplane Crash

August 29, 1938

PLANE CRACK-UP KILLS FIVE

SHIP LOST WAY IN STORM OVER NEW MEXICO

Pilot, Co-Pilot and Three Passengers of T.W.A. Transport Are Victims; One a Small Child.

AMARILLO, Aug. 29, (AP) – The crushed bodies of five persons, including a 3-year-old child, were found in the wreckage of the Transcontinental & Western Air's night mail and passenger tri-motor transport at Quay post office, 20 miles south of Tucumcari, N. M., at 10:30 o'clock this morning.

The Dead
The dead are MR. AND MRS. RALPH GORE of Albuquerque, N. M., and their grand-daughter, EVELYN GORE, daughter of MR. AND MRS. PAUL GORE of Armarillo; Pilot HOWARD MORGAN and co-pilot C. W. BARCUS both of Kansas City.

The plane was found by J. G. STRATTON, rancher in that vicinity who reported his discovery here. Details were slow in arriving here because of the condition of the roads. Heavy rains made transportation next to impossible.

The ill-fated ship apparently was caught in the same terrific storm which washed out a span of the railroad bridge, five miles west of Tucumcari, resulting to at least six deaths and 40 injured early today, when the Golden State Limited was wrecked.

Making Up Schedule
The T. W. A. plane left here at 11:35 p. m. Last night with mail and the three passengers. MR. AND MRS. GORE, 43 and 40 years old respectively, had been visiting their son here. The ship was made up here to continue the regular night mail and passenger flight westbound when the regular ship was storm-bound in Kansas City.

The plane was one of the regular tri-motored transports equipped with both receiving and sending radio. The last heard from pilot MORGAN was when he reported his position over the emergency field, six miles east of Tucumcari. Radio men here, reported they thought they heard him trying to talk one time later. MORGAN gave no intimation of a storm or trouble in his last report.

He apparently turned sharply to the left off his course immediately after passing the Tucumcari field, or else was forced to turn back somewhere west of there and went to the south off his course to avoid a storm.

Sought During Night
The report was confirmed from the Quay postmaster through Western Union. Airport officials here and along the mid-transcontinental route had been checking since midnight to try to find the missing ship. It was not known whether it burned after it struck but it was assumed it was completely demolished. It was not known if the mail was recovered.

RALPH GORE was a railway mail clerk running between Albuquerque and Vaugh on the Santa Fe line. He was transferred from Amarillo to Albuquerque two years ago. He spent extra time as mail clerk at the Albuquerque airport.

MR. AND MRS. RALPH GORE lived in Amarillo 10 years before going to Albuquerque.

MRS. GORE flew to Amarillo last Friday and MR. GORE came here last Saturday on plane. The PAUL GORES live at 3304 Tyler Street. An infant is the only other child in the PAUL GORE family.

The child was returning with her grandparents for a visit.

The Abilene Daily Reporter Texas 1933-08-29

BODIES OF 5 PLANE VICTIMS RECOVERED

Rancher Tells How Ship Crashed; Heard Explosion, Saw Fire.

Hit Mountainside Early in Morning After Awakening Him; Unable to Reach Scene Till Dawn Because of Rain; Bodies Taken Out on Horses.

CLOVIS, N. M., Aug 29 (AP) – The roar of motors over the ranch home of MR. AND MRS. T. M. DAVIS was the death note of five persons in a Transcontinental-Western Air plane which crashed early Tuesday morning against the lava-studded side of Mesa Redondo, 60 miles northwest of here.

As rain fell in torrents, the DAVIS family was awakened by the hum of the tri-motored plane swinging low overhead. They peered into the night to see the two landing lights glow softly through the storm. A few minutes later there was an explosion they heard for a distance of four miles and then a fire.

The fire, they said, was visible four miles through the heavy rain but soon died out. When dawn streaked the eastern sky, DAVIS accompanied by Deputy Sheriff CHARLES DUNLAP, ROY D. HUTCHENS, ELVIN HUTCHENS and JEWEL STRATTON, set out for Mesa Redondo to discover the bodies of four grown persons and a child.

Bodies Recovered
The bodies of MR. AND MRS. RALPH GORE and their three-year-old granddaughter, EVELYN GORE, had been thrown clear of the plane, when its right wing crashed into the lava mesa, 75 feet from the top and about 350 feet from the valley floor almost perpendicularly below.

Bodies of Pilot HOWARD MORGAN and Co-Pilot C. W. MORGAN (name actually C. W. BARCUS), both of Kansas City, were trapped in the flame-swept cabin and were burned beyond recognition.

Word of the accident was sent out and a party went from here on the _____ trip over treacherous roads, slippery and without bridges, to recover the bodies.

At little more than a walk, the party progressed. The last two miles was over the mulpals (?), or lava land, on horse back.

DAVIS said the explosion, as best he remembered, was at 1:41 a. m. He said the plane was flying low in a southeasterly around the end of the mesa.

Passengers Thrown Clear.
Investigation of the wreckage indicated the right wing crashed into the bluff first, split the plane in two and then the rest of the ship crashed. When the wing hit and the plane split, the passengers were thrown out and it was said they were instantly killed. Their bodies were lodged in the lava crevasses.

Bodies of the victims were being held at the mortuary here pending funeral arrangements.

The GORES had just started home from a vacation in Amarillo taking the grandchild back with them for a visit at their home.

The picture of the accident from the air indicated the plane was flying due south when it crashed into the point, shortly after midnight Monday night.

Caught In Storm.
The accident occurred only 20 miles from where a transcontinental train plunged into an arroyo and at least seven persons were killed. While Tucumcari, N. M., was closer than Clovis, there were no roads to Tucumcari necessitating the long drive to Clovis.

The pilot apparently had turned to avoid the terrific storm which lashed Tucumcari, swept out bridges and washed away all roads, although he did not mention in his radio reports to the control field he was having any difficulty, field men said.

The plane had left Amarillo at 11:35 p. m., Monday night to continue the regular westbound flight when the regular ship was storm-bound in Kansas City.

The last heard from the pilot was when he reported his position over an emergency field six miles east of Tucumcari. Wireless operators said they thought they heard him trying to talk one time later.

BODIES OF VICTIMS TO BE TAKEN TO AMARILLO
The bodies of RALPH GORE, a railway mail clerk, his wife and their three-year-old grandchild, EVELYN GORE, who met death early Tuesday morning in the crash of the Transcontinental-Western Air passenger liner near Quay, N. M., were being taken Tuesday night to Amarillo, Texas for burial.

Thought GORE and his wife were residents of Albuquerque the past two years, living at 316 South Sixth street, their son and his wife, MR. AND MRS. PAUL GORE, parents of the three-year-old that met death with them, reside in Amarillo.

Relatives of the crash victims residing here left early Tuesday afternoon by automobile for Clovis, planning to continue from there to Amarillo. The bodies were transported to Clovis Tuesday night.

Two cars departed, containing RALPH GORE'S brother, ERNEST H. GORE, 519 West New York avenue, and family, and MR AND MRS. RICHARD GORE, and daughter.

Only two weeks ago a sister of MR. RALPH GORE, MRS. ED RAYDON, of Ellda (?), was a visitor here. The GORES were returning from a weeks' stay in Amarillo when they met death. Their grandchild was returning with them for a visit here.

Up to the time of their departure the GORES had received no word from MRS. PAUL HORNEY of Clovis, another sister of MR. RALPH GORE, nor from MRS. GORE'S relatives, two sisters and two brothers in San Bernardino, Calif.

H. R. MORGAN, 33, was pilot of the fated plane. His father is J. H. MORGAN of Pasadena, Calif., and his wife, JENNIE MARIA MORGAN, resides in North Kansas City. He had been a T-W A pilot since 1929. W. C. BARCUS, 29, his co-pilot, who was also killed, became a pilot with the line last July. His father, W. W. BARCUS, lives in Farmersburg, Indiana.

Albuquerque Journal New Mexico 1933-08-30

Submitted & transcribed by Stu Beitler  Thank you, Stu!

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