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Show Washed Out French Cadet Steals Army Plane, Dies CALDWELL, Tex. A French air cadet, heavy hearted because he couldn't win his wings, stole an air force plane and, laughing, flew It to his death. Jean M. le Mitourad, 22, son of a French surgeon, was at the Randolph Ran-dolph air force base with other young Frenchmen for training under un-der the north Atlantic pact. Randolph officials said that he had been downcast since failing as a pilot trainee. The cadet went to the flight line, climbed into the plane and took off. He zoomed low over Stinson and Brooks air bases, whizzed down over Randolph, then headed north. A note indicating that he intended to crash the plane was found just after he took off. In it he apologized to "the American air force for destroying de-stroying this plane." Flights of other planes chased him over the skies, but returned to base when their gas started running run-ning low. Capt. Alain Jourdan, a French liaison officer, who flew along-side the cadet in another trainer in an effort to coax him down, said le Mitourad told him by radio: "I spend my last hours In the air and then I die." Jourdan said the cadet seemed in command of his emotions and "laughed many times." He crashed in a wooded pasture about five miles west of Caldwell. |
