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Show TWO KILLED IN PLANE CRASH AT RESERVOIR By Frank Jensen A converted Navy torpedo bomber spraying the Minersville Miners-ville Reservoir in a trash fish poisoning project crashed into the side of a hill Friday at 10:23 a. m., killing the pilot and an observer. The dead were identified as Paul O'Bagy, Salt Lake, the pilot, and Al Pruisa, Granger. The plane was owned by Aerial Applicators, Salt Lake, and had been employed under contract by the State Fish and Game Department to spray the reservoir with Rotenone, a poison, used to kill trash fish. The pilot had made three passes at low altitude and was turning for another pass across the waters. A large number of Beaver County residents witnessed the crash. Mr. and Mrs. Earl Myers, Goospring, Nev., who were vacationing va-cationing at the lake, said "The plane made a tight turn, and seemed to be heading head-ing straight for our trailer. We heard the thud as it hit the side of the hill. It bounced once and fell apart. "I could see an object rolling roll-ing down the hill. It was the plane's engine." The impact scattered parts of the five-ton craft more than a hundred yards along the hillside. "There was no explosion. The plane went up in a mass of flames," Mr. Myers said. Saunders Clark, Cedar City, State Fish and Game regional office manager, said the plane had flown low over the reservoir, reser-voir, released its spray, then disappeared behind the dam. "We couldn't see what had happened from the lake, although al-though we knew " there was something wrong when the plane didn't return." John D. Streeter of Salt Lake, a relief pilot and partner part-ner in the firm, said the plane apparently stalled out on a turn. Two Beaver men, Wendell Ross and James A. Lowe, had asked to go along on the spray trip, and had been told they could ride as passengers on the next trip. The postponement of their flight to observe the fish poisoning project saved their lives. |