ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 282407
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| Date: | Tuesday 13 September 1932 |
| Time: | c. 15:30 LT |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.60M Gipsy Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Newark Air Service |
| Registration: | NC122M |
| MSN: | 121 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Passaic Meadows, 1.5 miles East of Newark Airport, Newark, NJ -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Newark Airport, Newark, New Jersey, USA (EWR/KEWR) |
c/no 121: de Havilland DH.60M Gipsy Moth NC122M: Built by Moth Corporation at Lowell, GA. Registered by/in July 1930 to Newark Air Service, Newark, NJ. Written off (destroyed) 13.9.32 when crashed at Passaic, 1.5 miles East of Newark Airport, Newark, New Jersey. Both on board were killed. According to a biography of the pilot (see link #3) the pupil pilot was flying the Moth, and "froze" when at the controls. The aircraft then went out of control and crashed, killed both on board:
John Daniel Probat Jr (Instructor pilot, aged 37) - killed 13.9.32
William Fitze (Pupil pilot under instruction) - killed 13.9.32
According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("The Record", Hackensack, New Jersey Wednesday September 14 1932 p.1 - see link #1)
BERGEN AIRMAN DIES IN FIRST SERIOUS CRASH
Probst, Killed Near Newark, Had Flown Safely 13 Years
STUDENT ALSO DIES
Buried Bodies Not Recovered Until After Midnight
After more than fifteen years of flying uninterrupted by serious accident, Daniel Probst, chief pilot for the Newark Air Service, who lived at 118 Union Place, Ridgefield Park, cracked up yesterday afternoon, while instructing a pupil, William Fitze, of Chatham. The impact of the crash, which occurred in the Passaic meadows, killed both men Instantly, burying them, and parts of the plane six feet underground. Probst, 37 years old, was the son of Daniel Probst, who died two years ago. He lived on Linden Avenue, Englewood, until a few years ago, and was known not only as a shrewd and successful business man, but as a popular member of that city's society.
Mrs. Rose Probst, the mother of the pilot, survives. As the instructor and his student flew on, Fitze's first lesson, the open cockpit biplane, in which they circled over the meadows, was in full view of spectators watching the Newark-Baltimore baseball game at the Bears' stadium. As they watched the plane carelessly, some of them recounted afterward, they noticed it flying at an altitude of about 500 feet, then saw it suddenly falter, dip, and go into a rocket like nose dive towards! the ground.
SEEN BY HUNDREDS.
Hundreds of people rushed to the scene, near the Lehigh Valley Railroad, about a mile and a half east of Newark Airport, but all they could see was the wings and the tail of the fuselage, so great had been the driving force of the plane's impact with the soft earth. It was not until police and volunteers had combed the area within a radius of half a mile, supposing that the bodies had been thrown from the plane, that it was decided that instead the two men must have been buried in the mud. Fitze's body was the first to be recovered. After digging forty minutes in the muck, the water level was reached, but it was not until late in the evening that a rescue squad of thirty-five firemen, working under floodlights while a large crowd looked on, recovered the first body. The weight of the motor and the digging caused the bodies to sink further, and after recovering Fitze's body by digging a trench ten feet deep, work was continued until after midnight before the rescue squad reached it.
Three inquiries have been set under way today to determine the exact cause of the accident. Unofficial reports suggest that Fitze "froze" at the controls. Lieutenant Richard Aldworth, manager of Newark Airport, has started an investigation into the accident on behalf of the state aviation commission: Inspector George Reams Is conducting the inquiry for the federal Department of Commerce, and Major Robert L. Copsey is investigating for the Newark Air Service. Records at the Newark Airport show that Probst and Fitze left at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, with Fitze as passenger.
Fitze, the son of a building contractor of Chatham, wished to take his first flight at that time, in preparation for a full course of instruction under Probst. They flew for half an hour and then as they circled, Joseph S. Gooley of Bayonne, section foreman of the railroad workers, said the plane dived as it passed over the tracks. It had almost turned over completely when it struck the ground, having traced what is called an "outside loop."
Sources:
1. The Record, Hackensack, New Jersey Wednesday September 14 1932 p.1: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-joseph-s-gooley-witness-to-ai/51151867/
2. New York Times 14.9.32 p.3: https://www.nytimes.com/1932/09/14/archives/2-killed-in-crash-of-plane-in-marsh-bodies-of-air-instructor-and.html
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pUSA1.html
4. Biography of pilot, John Daniel Probst, Junior: https://earlyaviators.com/eprobst.htm
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Birds_of_Aviation
6. https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/ned50064
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passaic,_New_Jersey#Transportation
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Liberty_International_Airport#History
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Sep-2022 18:52 | Cobar | Added |
| 23-Nov-2023 13:11 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
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