2 Local Women Among 3 Killed in Air Race Crash : Aviation: Search continues for clues in Nevada accident. It is first fatal incident in 17 years of the Valley Air Derby, an annual race out of Van Nuys.

Authorities are searching for clues Sunday in an air race crash that killed two Los Angeles women and a man from Great Britain, all competitors in the Valley Air Derby, an annual race flown out of Van Nuys Airport.

The women were identified as 66-year-old Barbara Baer of Sherman Oaks and 67-year-old Ilse DeVries of Los Angeles. Also killed was John Mosley, 66, of Great Britain.

It was the first fatal accident in the 17-year history of the Derby, which is sponsored by an all-women flying group.

Just before the 12:15 p.m. crash Saturday near Mesquite, Nev., about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza apparently passed low over the Mesquite Airport, circled for a landing and then went down about half a mile north of the airstrip.

The FAA did not receive any trouble calls from the pilot. Capt. Greg Smith of the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department said the three died on impact. It was unclear who was piloting the plane.

This was Baer’s first Derby. About 18 months ago, the psychotherapist, who accompanied DeVries and Mosley as a guest, joined the Ninety Nines, a women’s flying group that sponsors the event.

“She was very excited about the trip and was looking forward to it,” said her husband, Dan Baer, on Sunday.

Baer long had a passion for flying, said her son Dan Goetz. “As a youngster she was a pilot for the UCLA Flying Club,” he said. “As a [college] senior in 1950, she got polio. Then she couldn’t fly any longer. She maintained an interest in flying, but she just couldn’t pursue it.”

The plane was one of 33 taking part in the 17th annual Derby. For the last two years, the planes have raced from Van Nuys to Mesquite, a 400-mile trip.

Grim-faced pilots returned early to Van Nuys on Sunday. “It’s a loss,” said Lorrie Blech, a pilot from Beverly Hills.

The crash was the first fatal accident in the Derby’s history. No one was injured several years ago when one plane lost power and its pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in the desert.

The Ninety Nines were founded in 1929 in Long Island, N.Y., to further aviation education and safety and promote women in aviation. Its first president was Amelia Earhart.

In 1952, San Fernando Valley women formed a local chapter, based at Van Nuys Airport. Its members have included former WASPs, or Women Air Force Service Pilots, who during World War II ferried aircraft across the country and performed other flying duties in the military.