Ensign Meets Death at Naval Air Station

"Ensign Meets Death at Naval Air Station. Pittsburg Flier Killed in Fall. Scranton Airman Also Dies When Plane Strikes Big Tank." [The Pittsburg Dispatch], 5 May 1919.

New York, May 5-Ensign Hugh J. Adams of Pittsburg and Chief Machinist's Mate Harold Corey of Scranton, Pa., were instantly killed at the Rockaway Beach naval air station today when the machine in which they were flying dived into a big hydrogen gas tank. The two men were crushed to death beneath the engine of the plane which crashed through the cockpit in which they were sitting.

Ensign Adams was aged 30, and was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Adams of 216 Goodrich street, Northside. He enlisted two years ago and was stationed at Pensacola, Fla. Later he went to Boston Tech and was commissioned an ensign. Since that time he had been stationed at Rockaway Beach, N. Y. He had made application for his discharge and expected to return home this month.

He received his education in the public schools of Pittsburg, and prior to his enlistment was a salesman for the United States Glass Company. His father and mother, a brother, Ralph J. Adams, in the Aviation Corps at San Diego, Cal., and a sister, Mrs. Charles Brady of West Park, survive.

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