Showing 2 results

Collections
Vancouver (Wash.) Item Varney Air Lines
Print preview View:

2 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Wreckage of Varney Air Lines mail plane in Vancouver, Washington

Photograph of a crowd looking at the wreckage of a Varney Air Lines mail plane near the port dock in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, November 30, 1929. On December 1, 1929, the Oregon Journal published a front-page story about the crash, headlined “Mail Pilot Rams Span; Badly Hurt.” A similar photo, image No. 371N3109, was published on Page 2 that day. According to the story, the plane’s pilot, Clarence C. Price, was unable to land at Swan Island airport in Portland because of fog and turned toward Vancouver. A witness reported hearing a loud noise and seeing the plane “carom off the north tower of the [Interstate] bridge and go into a spin.” Three people pulled Price from the burning plane after the crash, the Journal reported, but he died the next day.

Wreckage of Varney Air Lines mail plane in Vancouver, Washington

Photograph of a crowd looking at the wreckage of a plane near the port dock in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, November 30, 1929. A cropped version of this photograph was published on Page 2 of the Oregon Journal on Sunday, December 1, 1929, under the headline “Fog Claims Another Plane Victim.” The photograph had the following caption: “Wreckage of Varney Air Lines mail plane which spun to the ground at Vancouver Saturday afternoon after nicking the north tower of the Interstate bridge.” The photograph accompanied the continuation of a front-page story about the crash. According to the story, the plane’s pilot, Clarence C. Price, was unable to land at Swan Island airport in Portland because of fog and turned toward Vancouver. A witness reported hearing a loud noise and seeing the plane “carom off the north tower of the bridge and go into a spin.” Three people pulled Price from the burning plane after the crash, the Journal reported, but he died the next day, December 1, 1929. Also see image No. 371N3106.