Armed Forces: What Did Matter

The No. 3 and No. 4 engines were out, and the No. 1 engine was beginning to lose power. Coming in for an emergency landing, the pilot discovered that the nose wheel was not locked down into place. He pulled up the laboring Constellation, began to circle for another approach—and smashed into a swampy wood outside Richmond, Va. The crash and fire last week killed 74 Army recruits who were being flown to Fort Jackson, S.C., and touched off bitter criticism of the Army's system of transporting troops.

The Constellation that went down last week was no Government-owned plane. It belonged...