\London to Paris Air Express Crashes and Catches Fire:
Bight People Killed London, Dec. 24. Five men and three women were killed when the air express from London to Paris crashed at the (Croydon Aerodrome this morning and burst into flames.
The aeroplane had just started {for Pavia at noon when it crashed Jabout half-a-mile from its starting point, nose downwards, the front engine burying itself inthe ground. The petrol tank then burst, the petrol caught fire and the flames quickly spread over the body and the wings. A. crowd rushed to the! spot to help, but the heat was so intense that they were unable to approach it. The aeroplane was Fedueed to ashes in ten minutes.
The machine was a De Havilland of 450 horse-power and belonged to the Imperial Airways, Limited, a combination of British firms formed early in the year to work air transport services with the Continent.
When the fire occurred all the passengers were probably unconcious, if not dead. The tail of the aeroplane tilted up so high that they wore all thrown in a heap so fore-ably that the bodies bore marks which could not other-
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