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append hare 6 1986 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT e NARA BUREAU OF THE BUDGET & WASHINGTON, 25,D.C. MAR 5 1946 My dear Mr. Latta: On February 28, 1946, you advised this of fice that H.R. 2661, "For the relief of W. D. Jones and Ethel S. Jones, had been recei ved at the White House and requested reports and recommendations as to the approval of the bill. It is the purpose of the bill to pay the sum of $3,904.74 to W. D. Jones and his wife, Ethel S. Jones, of Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, in settlement of their claims against the United States on account of the damage to real and personal property owned by them as a result of the crash of an Army plane on July 5, 1943. It appears that on the date in question, an Army plane from a nearby base, operated on an official mission, was crossing Lake Waccamaw, flying close to the surface of the water; that the right wing tip and the right propeller of the plane struck the water and the propeller was torn from the plane; that the pilot succeeded in gaining sufficient alti- tude to clear the trees on the north shore of the lake but the plane then stalled and crashed, striking and damaging the hotel owned by the claimants; that the plane immediately caught fire and the furniture in the hotel was removed because of the danger of the building catching on fire; and that shortly thereafter a heavy rainstorm began which caused extensive damage to the furniture and it was necessary to close the hotel for the remainder of the vacation season. A facsimile of the enrolled enactment has been referred to the War Department and its reply, interposing no objection to the approval of the bill, is attached. The War Department states that a careful examination of the damage to the hotel was made by officers of the Army who reached the conclusion that a fair estimate of the property damage was $1,354.74 and that the loss due to the closing of the hotel from July 5, 1943, until the end of the vacation season, September 15, 1943, was $2,550. The Congress has enacted and the President has approved a number of bills providing relief for property damages sustained as a result of airplane crashes.