The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, June 28, 1930, Page 13

BRITT a halal ai to IAD Torry and Lived to Tell the Story By DICK GRACE A North Dakota boy who nas “made is the movies A son of the late Richard WGrece, former judge of the supreme court, he is known to many Bismarck residents, having been a frequent visitor to the city when his father Was serving on the supreme court bench, «HIVE TAEALAAUEAAE MUCHA ma prepared his ship for @ crash in (1) motor struts sawed part would be driven back into vary beget d so they would splinter d P @ tires partly defated 30 wheels A crack-up for “The Air Circus.” strike hard and break. . . (5) instruments : ition in the cockpit wievene! instrumeni S a 7 0 silte m je cocrpit . 2 even as on the ae the instrument board padded : 8 lies peril gave way in a splintering crash, 6-7) tha ship struck nose first, breal zmotor back int » then epee Breaking tll skid nd rear coi U ban é ILYING at an altitude of 100 feet and crashing on a bape where a man might be waiting would be murder. oe fines, the scene would be ruined and a ates gonk Tt was one of those few times that require an instantaneous change of mind, T-pulled the nose of the pl rinse ners t into a steep under-slip. In such a poaiign I bared the Helis under me. There, not in the area allotted to him, stood ithe man, * the double. Slipping to the ground for a eruhia is an un- leasant ome but I did not care much about that as long as I could see the one person in danger. "t watched the ground come up to me from the side, a Lima sensation, and then prepared myself for the baie: is time it was a crash to the left—one which would trans- fer the shock to the heart and the stomach, Leaning forward as far as I could in order that the belts would be tight against my chest, I wail A crumpled into the fuselage with an accordion-like action. = The nese hit—and so did I. Tt was one of those cases where J had no chanee to dissi- pate the force of my speed. The impact of the motor was sufficient to tear a hole in the ground a foot and a half deep and three feet in diameter. Net result—one broken and one cracked rib. All unnecessary. As I walked away for my usual physical examination hes ate { had little to say—I was just regaining my redwoods ate a thi 1G, Foter died mo ari -oMMMTQOURLAU AAAS LADO LE HUA LLE UCC ALLELE LLLLLEA te: ISTAKES occur very seldom with me; but when they a ‘Portrait sketch of Dick Grace by ns Kroesen. - -« a This youth hes — do, they are usually costly. Of course there are times = 0 years of his life smashing up planes and doing other reckless stunts for when conditions change while I am in the air to crash. = movies. . -. » Yet he is as quiet-spoken.and modest as if he had to be at a “ite These also are costly, but cannot be called mistakes. = every day at 8 a. m. The 31st crash was a good example of this, Then I was = ; ‘ eet aE a ah we oo aes iat oy Tay mae = Pood e place o! e Crash was a dee! res- = ae * {TSUALLY any accident beyond my calculations is the sion—not AS easy place into which to sl ita ide, . = result of an unexpected eh cepa Theeaty After I'd dropped in and was on the verge of the crash, . = * times when it is too late to make a change of mind, The the wind shifted to my tail, causing me an excess of 91 = last few seconds of a crash must go aceite to schedule. ye the motor going to create sound for the crash, it was ° ° ‘Sound involves crashes much more than do cameras. Now ible to hit O less than ee miles an hour. it is necessary to is flag signals from both departments be- ipping the right wing, I hit and threw water, mud, pro- oe 2 fore heading into peller and airplane for, many feet. All four wings were ie plane pabed: nose find, into the sun- The cameramen ma‘ “aril ready and “ and I may be on wrenched from the fuselage. I im ‘a Maces pain in my Lebed ren ve The ae moved through the gas my way to a wreck, cayge of a sudden, I see a wild waving right side, and knew that again broken. some ribs. tank, causing gas and oil to spray over everything. One of a red flag. If possible, I must avoid a crash—save the Usually, when the air is kn Bee ee ar by mere pressure of the wings Papen the thing careened dizzily to the left. ship, go back to my sprees field, and wait for another of my chest on the belts, this is so. Then it settled ard, and tearing wheels and under- try, because something happened to the sound trucks or mi- However, the shot was a complete success, I ended not pgs away, lay broken and useless, not 25 feet from the cro me Nace ; sabes than feat fea from the eotas camera and ine Seen cameraman. ae causes some delay because again I must from a micro} it was one of the most spectacular ae I olnalates the pit, he pape Aue to ae ee drain te as al ee dp onged replace sfen for the um cn a Geliayt me ita ane dined er palvees a ofasi spinning le groun je ex- ration o} it, plus margin e for a return, shou! [adda sea it so hard that it tore one of m: tended his hand, SThanks,” | he said, smiling, “for a while the unlooked for ya ia from my shoe pal never hurt my foot at all. The force of I didn’t think you'd miss me.” But it is not the mechanics of a crash that bother. my tes leaving the rete a fast evidently had -been too "s a spot to hit and cameras Cameramen are like that. They take extreme chances human element is the most undependable of all, 1 Pin much for the ip ok throttle to manipulate, A to get a single effect. The Perry brothers, Paul and Harry, that I can crash a ship where they want it. I can depend And this all Jue iG Fi te change of wind at the last controls to work. ese are Norman De Foe, George Eastman, and Buddy Williams wn my motor and the ship. My trained rescue ambulance moment. which keep me from any use of imag- ar but a fos of that clan who are noted for their intrepidity. and police squadron are as constant as is the troupe; but But regardless of the breaking of the ribs, I did two other Bis rdless of the success of that crash as far as Iam the rest of the people are more likely to do something totally crashes in the next 10 days. Life's like that for me. Peeu- it is necessary to crash with , it remained for me to do it —_) Tt wasn’t quite unexpected, liarly, although the next two were complete washouts, the as cameras—just one more picture required, Once in particular, did I come to grief because of this ribs suffered not a bit. what the oht te termination of a crash de leds upon innu- hazard. In the shot, a double for a star was supposed to If there is any confusion in the minds of anyone that my more and more particular about ef- merable little details, all insignificant lene but all run out into the field to be near the ship at the time of work is allied or aligned with commercial aviation, J] want if I came down and hit the spot, important at some iapienticant the thrill. Proper policing of the crashing. to remove it from consideration immediately. area and placement of cameras means much. The camera- Cameras were set, and the crews stationed at psychological men are dable, once | INE is the last and perhaps ied . — . : the most involved of stunt ieee “Lilac Time” I placed an anvil weighing a : ae B ne : work, I've made drops from 4 Pounds in the extreme aft section of the fuselage hysterical oe : : eS aeroplane to aeroplane and aero- to keep the tail from arising to a point past the perpen- ; : plane to auto. I've made high and Fortunately, the trick worked. ‘The nose hit and the un- ercarriage caved into the motor mount. The engine pushed back into the gas tank. When the ip -vasin:seesoalis fire dives. Wrecking of an auto- mobile is simple after you've done it several times. Bi lanes al jut aan vl bw ways vertical position, it did a complete barrel toll; then, the has and always orce not being comp! pant, the entire broken ship and C able hazard. Maybe J wa . a} vd gow backwards for about 75 feet. It’s a peculiar that danger to a igea. Cer- 0 ° : tape stern car are. 4 fev, ae pola J d fe pi noise ; iat iT were Liled? OF course, = . ° elle! F i : verybody would say, “See, I told = = my 0 bard you so.” Perhaps they're in = use picture, “Young Pha great yh T come low, saying it. Perhaps not. At = | ° ip in and land on my back before the microphones who I'm getting into numbers—34 is a = a d cameras, bank lot_of smashed = of Everything went fine ee I was just about to dive the must rene takes very little, sometimes, to to = hip home. Then, and then only, ad I oo that I had as- Perhaps my is I. .In one crash a wooden = a umed the wrong angle of as could born of ignorance. With each crash I learn new things, and It is necessary to stage the crack-ups directly before the ofa pesgeli pateed shen the oater dane of cis ath = = wu the shot, but due to Ls pene elgeor i each stunt is a separate example to be solved, the cameras . . . and nowadays, in proper relation to the of my right si ith ee force that art a = = ry ed experiences of those past serve more or less as lessons. microphones. . . . This photo shows how close Dick an-inch steel plate and ended in a steel ped Ss = “4 j change my mind. It had to be a crash. Only in the last halt dozen crashes have I found that a Grace came to the cameras in “Young Eagles.” You may say it’s all luck, and that also may be true, but = excitement below. People were running. certain doctor's advice has been extremely valuable. For tea. a8 have to have lucky breaks to make a fortune, to = y started to move. If I waited another second 18 hours before a crash I never eat. It leaves my stomach gee health—to live. Breaks? Of course, breaks, whether — the crowd. free and lean, which means that it would take an extreme jolt points. A last understanding with the double convinced me ard work, clever designing, or birth. = | tion of a second, I'd made up my mind. to give me serious internal injury. Furthermore, with a that he knew the spot where he was to stop. In fact, I Nor wil it be long before I retire. Yet I have this year = ; the value 0 of the the shot, I pulled the stick back heavy meal beforehand, if I were injured, I'd be in bad con- made him practice running to it several times to be sure that five crashes—four in planes, one in an automobile, Before = 4; h the rudder all the the way to the left. dition for an operation. while I was in the air and coming in to crack, there would the year is over there may be mage. But it won't be lo | iti oe T could do nothing else. Another little precaution which I observe, unless other- be no misunderstanding, now—it can’t. At the “age” of 5U intentional crashes I shal i ’ hit dangerously er Elmer pies the wise ordered, is to strike the right side of the ship first. Nat- Taking the air, I ‘banked around the field vertically and retire—that is, retire to another phase of work. cameraman, I knew Elmer. He'd stick urally, A I'm pitched forward, my body will receive the saw that all conditions were right. Then I i) around For the thrill of even my most spectacular crashes is . I think if he had an idea that I was brunt of the shock on the right. It is very silly on first and came in for the shot. When but about 400 feet from passing. At first the public didn’t believe the: ae were really i thought, but not when you consider that if I struck on the the mark, I saw the double start to run. At 200 feet he done just as , they appeared on the screen. wise ones i left, the heart would: receive the jolt. The stomach is also had passed the spot and was directly under me: From then cried “fake.” But now the public is beginning iP isk them P. S a little more to the left than directly in the center. on. was blind and could not see him because of the wings. as just a matter of course—and that is almost as bad. (Copyright, 1930, By EveryWeek Magazine—Printed tn U. 8. 4.) ea TTT ATTNUMNL STO IO) | me FYOTVOVEUUNUCQUQUOLULOUUUUCUEUEEI UUUOTOrrocoreeeneecrte™ é esau ai