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Friday, March 26, 2021

Lt. Coney Seriously Injured in Crash Landing, March 26, 1921

Coney Probably Fatally Injured on Return Trip. . . Forced to Land by Engine Trouble, Plane Struck a Tree in Louisiana

Monroe, La., March 25—Lieut. W.D. Coney of the army air service received probably fatal injuries today when his airplane struck a tree while he was attempting to make a landing near Crowville, La., on his return trans-continental flight from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Diego, Calif.

The landing was attempted after engine trouble had developed and the plane feel about 75 feet. Lieutenant Coney was flying over a swamp wilderness in northeast Louisiana, when the engine got into difficulties. His back is believed to have been broken.

The injured aviator is being moved to Natchez, Miss., for hospital treatment. He is being taken over swamp roads for a distance of 11 miles to Winnsboro, where he will be placed aboard a train.

The officer crashed with his plane and was unconscious when found. He regained consciousness sometime later however, but was unable to say anything except that he had had engine trouble and was seeking a landing place when he smashed into the tree.

A village doctor, who was called to attend the officer, said that besides a broken back, Lieutenant Coney apparently had received internal injuries. Owing to his critical condition, the trip to Winnsboro was a slow one.

Crowville is a small town on Deer Creek in Franklin parish in the northeast section of Louisiana. The country is swampy, roads are built of logs on dikes, making travel and communication extremely difficult. At this season of the year travel is the worst.

Crowville is several miles from a narrow gauge railroad. The nearest town of any size is Winnsboro.

Residents of Crowville saw Lieutenant Coney’s DeHaviland plane circling about 7:30 o’clock this morning, the pilot apparently seeking a suitable place to land. Finally the plane was seen to swoop down and crash into the top of a tall tree on the Mose Lanier farm.

John Bush, a farm laborer, was the first to reach the scene and managed to extricate the then unconscious flyer from the wreckage. Lieutenant Coney then was taken to the little cabin where Mose Lanier lives with Bush, his helper.

Lieutenant Coney’s home is in Brunswick, Ga.

From the front page of The Charlotte News, Saturday, March 26, 1921

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