Rescue copter crashes leaving site of earlier accident
     TOULOUSE, France - November 15, 1997 12:47 p.m. EST -- A rescue
 helicopter leaving the site of a plane crash that left four dead hit
 a cable during takeoff Saturday, crashing to the ground and killing
 both the pilot and co-pilot, police said.
     The small private plane, carrying two adults and two children,
 apparently crashed after striking a bird in flight and went down
 near the Pic du Midi Observatory in the Pyrenees mountains in south-
 west France, the regional police department said.
     All four on board were killed in the crash.
     The rescue helicopter, which also carried a doctor and a para-
 medic, flew into a cable as it was leaving the scene. The pilot and
 co-pilot tried to make an emergency landing, but they were killed
 by the force of the touchdown.
     The police department did not release the victims' identities,
 and there were no other details immediately available.
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         Engine problem forces plane to return to L.A.
     LOS ANGELES - November 15, 1997 3:35 p.m. EST - A Northwest Air-
 lines plane carrying nearly 100 passengers landed safely Saturday at
 a suburban airport after the pilot reported mechanical problems
 shortly after takeoff, an airport official said.
     No one was injured on the Detroit-bound flight, which carried 98
 passengers, according to Kathleen Campini Chambers, a spokeswoman
 for John Wayne Airport, south of Los Angeles.
     Northwest Airlines flight 208 landed at about 9:11 a.m. PST
 about 25 minutes after takeoff.
     Chambers said the airport received calls from witnesses who saw
 flames coming from the plane and heard a bang.
     "It is my understanding that the aircraft is being checked at
 this time," Chambers said. She did not know the cause of the
 mechanical problems. (Later news says bird injestion caused the
 engine failure. Jim)
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          Decorated World War II general dies at 93
              (Almost right this time. Jim)
   WASHINGTON - November 15, 1997 8:47 p.m. EST -- Retired Air Force
 Gen. Leon William Johnson, who won the Medal of Honor for leading a
 daring raid that cut Axis fuel supplies from Romania's oil fields in
 1943, has died in a retirement home. He was 93.
    On Aug. 3, 1943, (actually Aug.1st. Jim) Johnson, then a colonel,
 led the final bomber group that flew in below 100 feet to deliver
 the final blow of the all-out air assault in Romania.
 (Finally captured by Soviets on 30 August 1944. Producing 20 per
 at that time. Jim)
    Of the six planes in that formation, his was the only one able to
 limp back to base in Libya, blackened and riddled with holes.
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                         Iraq Standoff
 American-piloted U-2 surveillance planes are set to resume flights
 over Iraq this weekend, perhaps as early as Sunday Baghdad time.
 Meanwhile, as people in Iraq prepared for a possible U.S. military
 strike, both sides in the standoff undertook diplomatic initiatives.
 Both Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and U.S. Secretary of
 State Madeleine Albright were planning swings through Arab capitals.
 U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
 conferred by phone.
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      Fuel lack stalls Nigeria airline's global take-off
     LAGOS, Nov 14 - The intercontinental launch of Nigeria's private
 Bellview Airlines was put back a day on Friday because of a shortage
 of aviation fuel in the oil-producing West African country, a
 company official said.
     "The first flight to Rio de Janeiro will now take off at 16.00
 hours (1500 GMT) on Saturday instead of Friday," a Bellview official
 said. "It will then depart for Nairobi at 23.00 hours (2200 GMT)
 on Sunday en route for Bombay."
     Bellview is the first private Nigerian company to try flying a
 scheduled service to Rio, Nairobi and Bombay -- a route which it
 has taken over from ailing state-run carrier Nigeria Airways .
     Despite pumping more than two million barrels of crude oil every
 day, Nigeria is frequently short of refined petroleum products, which
 poorly-maintained state-run refineries are unable to deliver.
     Bellview, which operates domestic services inside Nigeria and
 along the West African coast, has acquired an Airbus 310-600R air-
 craft to operate the intercontinental route.
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