Designer of the Packard Diesel Engine
1888 to 1930
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Designer of the Packard Diesel Engine 1888 to 1930 |
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DIES IN AIR CRASH Packard Motor He Built Kills Capt. L. M. Wooson 2 PILOTS DEAD WITH HIM Plane Dives Into Snow-Covered Hillside Up-State ATTICA, N. Y., April 23 (A. P.) --- A snow-covered hillside near here proved a death trap for three men, one of them a leader in aviation circles, when their Diesel motorplane crashed into it during a blinding snowstorm this afternoon. The dead are: Capt. Lionel M. Woolson, aeronautical engineer of the Packard Motor Company of Detroit and designer of the Packard Diesel airplane motor. Charles S. Knight, a test pilot for the Verville Company of Detroit, manufacturers of the plane that crashed. Harold B. Scutt, No. 264 Park Lane, Douglastown, L. I., a pilot. The plane, a four-place cabin monoplane, was being flown from Detroit to New York, where it was to be exhibited in the aviation show. There was no fire, but the bodies of all three men were badly mangled by the force of the crash and workmen struggled for several hours before they could extricate them from the tangled wreckage. The plane was first sighted over a farm about four miles south of here by workmen on a nearby highway. The workmen said it seemed to be flying in a peculiar manner, Suddenly, they said, it swung sharply about and headed directly for the hillside. A moment later, there was a rending crash as the plane struck the hill, rolled down the side and came to rest beside the tracks of the Attica and Arcade Railway. Several hours later, the bodies were removed and taken to an undertaking establishment in Attica. |
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| TRIBUTE TO CAPT. L. M. WOOLSON by his PACKARD ASSOCIATES -=- GROSS POINTE CLUB APRIL 4, 1930 OOO WALTER E. LEES |
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O YOU, Captain L. M. Woolson, and those assisting you, Hermann I. A. Dorner, Herbert C. Edwards, Walter E. Lees, Marvin J. Steele, and Adolph Widman, we pay tribute today. You have made possible the Packard-Diesel Aircraft Engine. You have added to the fame of Packard. And you have strengthened the esteem and affection for you of
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-=- HORS D'OEURVES
GREEN TURTLE SOUP BONED SQUAB WITH JELLY RICE CROQUETS NEW PEAS GRAPEFRUIT & ENDIVE
SALAD ASSORTED CHEESE PINEAPPLE ICE IN PINEAPPLE CAKES
COFFEE |
| Bound from Detroit to New York where delivery of the plane was to
be made, a Verville Air Coach powered by a Packard-Diesel engine crashed against a hill in a blinding snowstorm at Attica, N.Y., on
April 23, instantly killing its three occupants, one of whom was Capt. L.M. Woolson. A thorough analysis of the tradegy places its cause
entirely upon the blizzard-like snowstorm which raged throughout the afternoon and evening. Words seem but futile, useless things to expand this blunt statement of fact into an expression of the deep sorrow that is felt by the aviation world in general and the Packard world in particular. But to few men is acorded, within their span, the great privilege granted him -- that of seeing creative idea after creative idea develop and blossom into proved success. Modest ever, the overwhelming acclaim rightfully his, meant but little; for his generous nature took little -- gave much. His gifts to engineering progress are many. His presents to Packard, even greater. For being one of those combinations that join engineering genius to administrative ability, he leaves a lasting design -- and an organization to carry it to even greater heights. To aviation, the name Woolson stands a monument. To Packard, an undying inspiration. |
| CAPTAIN WOOLSON contributed more to the safety of aviation than any other person in his
generation. The accident in which he met his death was in no sense the fault of his creation. He encountered something that no one
yet has found a means of overcoming, namely, a snow or sleet storm. He died in the midst of one of these which deprived him of his
ability to see. In no manner was the accident a reflection on his work, a work that will go on. Captain Woolson was one of the great men of recent history. He was daring but only in the best sense, for he was far from reckless. His death occurred in what he considered the performance of his duty, the delivery of one of the engines which he had created. I considered Captain Woolson as one of the great mechanical geniuses of this generation. He carefully calculated everything necessary out of his ideas on paper and then working them into being in wood and metals. He died with the knowledge that he had finished what he had started out to accomplish, the developement of an oil-burning airplane engine with all of the many features of safety flying which such a motor inherently possesses. President Macauley |
