A selection of brief news articles describing the crash of an air mail plane into the Susquehanna River, south of Millersburg, Dauphin County, on 27 September 1920, resulting in the death of the pilot, F. A. Robinson.
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From the Reading Times, 28 September 1920:
MAIL PLANE PILOT KILLED
Wrecked In Striking Wire Over the Susquehanna River
Harrisburg, September 27 [1920] — Mail plane No. 31,697, was wrecked late this afternoon when it struck a wire extending over the Susquehanna River, near Millersburg. The plane had left Hazlehurst field yesterday morning. The pilot was killed.
A letter carried by the flyer and other marks identified him as F. A. Robinson, of Hazlehurst Field. It is thought that the pilot was lost and was following the river on the way to Bellefonte. He struck a cable crossing the river owned by the Cumberland Valley Telephone Company and all communication west of here is cut off tonight.
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From the People’s Register, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 30 September 1920.
MAIL PLANE PILOT KILLED
The pilot of mail plane No. 31,697 was killed when the machine was wrecked late Monday afternoon near Millersburg. The plane, which left Hazlehurst Field Monday struck a wire extending over the Susquehanna River.
A letter carried by the flier and other marks identified him as F. A. Robinson of Hazlehurst Field. It is thought the pilot was lost and was following the river on his way to Bellefonte. He struck a cable crossing the river owned by the C. V. Telephone Company and all communication west of here is cut off tonight.
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From the Evening Sun, Hanover, Pennsylvania, 28 September 1920; a similar article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Wilkes-Barre Record, the Pittsburgh Daily Post, and the Altoona Tribune, same day:
MAIL PLANE HITS TELEPHONE WIRE OVER RIVER; PILOT KILLED
Harrisburg, September 28 [1920] — Mail plane No. 31697 was wrecked late yesterday afternoon when it struck a wire extending over the Susquehanna River near Millersburg. The plane had left Hazlehurst Field in the morning. The pilot was killed.
A letter carried by the flyer and other marks of [sic] identified him as F. A. Robinson, of Hazlehurst Field. It is thought that the pilot was lost and was following the river on his way to Bellefonte. He struck a cable crossing the river owned by the Cumberland Valley Telephone Company and all communication west of here is cut off.
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From the Perry County Democrat, Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, 29 September 1920:
A United States mail plane was wrecked and the pilot killed Monday afternoon when the machine collided with the telephone wires that span the Susquehanna River below Millersburg. F. A. Robinson of Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, the pilot , was instantly killed as the water where the machine struck was very shallow. It is supposed he was unable to see the wires on account of the fog.
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From the Jeffersonian Democrat, Brookville, Pennsylvania, 30 September 1920:
F. A. Robinson, pilot of one of the mail planes that flies over Brookville, was killed Monday afternoon when his machine was wrecked near Millersburg, Pennsylvania.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, 29 September 1920:
Airman’s Body Sent To California Home
The body of F. A. Robinson, the air mail pilot, who was killed near Millersburg on Monday afternoon when his plans struck telephone wires spanning the Susquehanna River causing the machine to crash into the river, will be sent to his home in Redfield, California.
Paul W. Smith, who is in charge of the flying field at Hazelhurst, Long Island, arrived in Millersburg yesterday to arrange for the movement of the body. A pilot arrived from Hazelhurst Field today and will accompany the body of the dead flyer to his parents’ home.
The wrecked mail plane was dragged from the river today and shipped to Bellefonte, the first stop on the mail route from New York to Chicago.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.