Saturday, July 30, 2022

Ralph Murrill's European Tour Ends With Airplane Crash, July 30, 1922

Ralph S. Murrill of Charlotte Killed in Mishap in Germany

By the Associated Press

Berlin, July 29—Officials of the company operating airplane service from Berlin to Hamburg are unable to explain the sudden plunge yesterday of the combination postal-passenger airplane near Boisenberg while on the trip to Hamburg. The plane carried to instant death its tree passengers, R.S. Murrill of Charlotte, N.C., Albert Baurigin and Senior Cosevergara, and Pilot Von Bertram.

The supposition is that the pilot endeavored to make an emergency landing, but miscalculated his direction and landed in dense woods. The investigation commission has not yet returned to Berlin, but it is believed probable it will fail to establish the cause of the accident, as there are no survivors. The machine is a complete wreck.

It is explained by the officials that the wrecked plan was virtually a new one, its motor having run for only 33 hours. Von Bertram, a well-known war aviator, made repeated trips from Berlin to Hamburg with a machine of similar type.

The identity of the American was established accidentally through an employee of the American military mission in Berlin. The other two passengers are either Spaniards or Argentines.

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Murrill Well-Known in Mecklenburg

Charlotte, N.C., July 29—Ralph S. Murrill, reported killed in the airplane in Germany, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. Murrill of this city. He left some weeks ago for a tour of Europe in company with a party of Princeton students. He was graduated from Princeton in June. The last word that came from him to his parents here was to the effect that he had landed in Bremen two weeks ago.

From the front page of the Raleigh News & Observer, July 30, 1922

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