extended flaps on its belly and skidded about 45m along the ground. Damage was significant. An unanticipated region of low aerodynamic pressure around the tail had caused alcohol fumes to be sucked back into the fuselage, where they were ignited by heating or the ignition flame." Repaired, the aircraft flies a few more times over the summer but as the safety of the system is doubtful, a redesign is ordered. Note that different sources describe what sounds like the same flight on different dates, April and June of 1937. 3 June Nationalist leader General Emilio Mola is killed when the Airspeed Envoy in which he is travelling flies into the side of a mountain in bad weather while returning to Vitoria, Spain. The deaths of Sanjurjo, Mola and Goded leave Francisco Franco as the pre-eminent leader of the Nationalist cause. Although there have always been accusations that Franco arranged the deaths of his two rivals, so far no evidence has been produced. Early July Hamburger Flugzeugbau Ha 137 V6 dive bomber, D-IDTE, destroyed in crash. No production contract awarded for the type. 23 July – 1 August During the International Flying Meet at Zürich, German ace Ernst Udet crash lands Messerschmitt Bf 109 V10, D-ISLU, a Bf 109B equipped with early production Daimler Benz Db.600 engine, when it suffers power loss during Alps circuit race. Udet attempts to land, walks away from wrecked airframe. 18 August Col. William Caldwell McChord, (1881–1937), rated a junior military aviator in 1918, was killed while trying to force-land his Northrop A-17, 35–105, near Maidens, Virginia. At the time of his death, he was Chief of the Training and Operations Division in HQ Army Air Corps. Tacoma Field, Washington, was renamed McChord Field, 17 December 1937. 19 September Junkers EF 61 V1, first prototype of pressurized bomber, suffered control surface flutter, crashed at Dessau, Germany, killing both crew. October Sole Junkers Ju 49, D-2688, later D-UBAZ, c/n 3701, a high altitude research aircraft, first flown September 1933, crashes while operated by the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fur Luftfahrt (German Research Centre for Air Travel). 24 October During engine start at an airfield on Saishuto Island (now Jeju Province) off of the southern coast of South Korea, a Hirosho G2H1 (Hiro Navy Type 95 Twin-engined Land-based Attacker) catches fire and soon explodes. Fire spreads to other G2Hs, armed with bombs, destroying four and damaging a fifth. Only eight