Evening Star Newspaper, January 12, 1930, Page 90

14 | — Here Is the Unusual Story of the First IWomen to Gain Membership in the Exclusive Caterpillar Club, Mythical Society of Aviators Whose Lives Have Been Saved by Parachute Jumps From Planes Disabled While in Flight. BY HELEN WELSHIMER. ELLING thrills. That was Irene Mc- Farland's job. She and her husband traveled merrily across the country, visiling flying fields and courty fairs, taking turns making the spectators catch their breath as they jumped fiom an airplane that sailed Bigh in the sky. Fay Gillis, on the other hand, with the same spirit of daring, didn’'t mind flying in an air- plane that was upside-down any more than in one that was rightside-up. Each of the two women received the supreme The Geometridue caterpillar lets itself down to earth on a self-spun thread of silk. Thus it is the symbolic emblem of those who have saved their lives by means of silken parachutes. thrill of her aerial adventures, and also the accolade of the air, as a double surprise, for each was forced to jump and depend on a para- chute to save her life. Thus it happened that Mrs. McFarland and Miss Gillis are the only two womer in the world who are members of the Caterpillar Club, that exclusive, mythical organization whose membership is composed of aviators who have had to jump to save their lives, Other women have told of escapes from Jungle beasts and sinking ships, but they are the only two who had to depend on high jumps to save them from death. Neither woman was piloting her plane at the time that the parachute jump which served as her initiation into the Caterpillar Club was made. In fact, Mrs. McFarland has never piloted a ship, although Miss Gillis is a licensed pilot. Of the 148 who have made emergency jumps, 138 have lived to tell the story. Some have made more than one jump. Col. Charles A. Lindbergh is recognized as the supreme com- mander of this club, which never mests, for he has been dependent on a parachute four times to save his life. Drowning people, rescued in time, frequently say that their memories are very clear when the waves start to roll over them, and the same thing is true of those who seek adventure in the clouds. Mrs. McFarland and Miss Gillis recall every detail of their spectacular jumps. And the touch of the small gold caterpillar pins they wear brings the memories back. THESE pins, which are really made in the form of men’s stickpins, may have chosen a masculine design because no one thought that feminine adventurers would wear them. They are fashioned in the shape of the cater- pillar, for which the club is named—the cater- pillar, which lets itself down to earth on its silken shrouds, spinning as it comes. Mrs. McFarland of Canton, Ohio, was the first woman to invade the ciub, which has be- come part of the unwritten tradition of those who fly. Her spectacular parachute jumn took place at an aerial performance at Grisard Field, now Watson Airport, Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 28, 1925. But there is an interesting story which led up to the jump. Way back in 1923, when aviation was very, very young, Mrs. McFarland and her husband were living at Anderson, Ind. Some friends of hers had constructed an airplane and had em- ployed a man to do parachute jumps for them. “I wish I could jump for you,” Mrs. McFar- land told them with a wistful note in her voice. “If ever you need any one to do it, won’'t you let me try?” Her wish came true much sooner than she had expected. When the day arrived for the man to per- form his exciting stunt in the air his courage failed. He looked into the sky, wondered if the parachute would really open and decided that there were easier and safer ways to earn a living. The people who were in charge of the plane sent word to Mrs. McFarland. “I had never jumped before, but I was too excited to be scared,” she explains. “I went out to the field, got into flying togs and they strapped the parachute on me and told me how to pull the cord. “THE first thing I knew I was up in the sky and it was time to jump. I obey:d in- structions and found myself floating through the air. I wasn’t at all frightened. The sene sation was glorious. I guess the first jump always is more thrilling than any of those that follow. I always minded jumping more after Lady Caterpillar, Mrs. Irene McFarland. Lady Caterpillar, Fay Gillis. that first time, because the thrill was gone and it was just a busincss stunt.” Mrs. McFarland was so enthused over her jump that she persuaded her husband, Edgar McFarland, to try it, too. He caught the fever and they decided to become professional para- chute jumpers. For three years they traveled over the coun- try, taking turns atsaerial acrobatics while the crowds applauded. They might have gone on with the business of marketing thrills if the accident hadn’t occurred which won Mrs. Mc- Farland her membership in the Caterpillar Club. ‘The McFarlands had becn performing at an air circus in Daytcn, Ohio, and gone to Cin- cinnati, where they had a three-day contract. One day one of them would fly and the next the other. There was a wind blowing as Mrs. McFar- land waited for her turn to perform. Three stunt flyers were shattering the crowd’s nerves and she was to top the climax of sky adventure for them. Her husband had packed her “bal- loon” type of parachute and she had the utmost confidence in it. It weighed 40 pounds and was contained in a large canvas bag which was fastened to the undercarriage of an air- plane. The chute was held in the bag by elastic at the bottom end. The parachute was designed to function when the jumper’s weight broke the elastic and pulled the chute from the beg. MAJ, HUGH WATSON and Maj. E. L. Hoff- man, officials of Grisard Field, examined Mrs. McFarland's equipment and weren't en- tirely satisfied with its manner of operation. “You had better carry an Irvin Army para- chute as a precaution,” they toild her. “I didn’t want an extra parachute strapped around me,” Mrs. McFarland says. “I thought the 35-pound pack would be too bundlesome, s0 I said I wouldn’t go up if I had to wear it. They told me, then, that since this was a Gov- ernment field it was a rule that no one could fly without that particular type of parachute. Still I was determined I wouldn't wear it. After a while, though, I yielded, let them fasten it around me, and I climbed into the plane, which Maj. Watson was piloting.” ‘The ship which they used was a now obso- lete standard biplane, powered with a Curtiss OXX-6 motor. When they had reached an altitude of 3,500 feet Watson cireled his plane and signaled to Mrs. McFarland to jump. “I was riding in the cockpit,” Mrs. McFar= land says. “I jumped, but my leap ended with a sharp jerk.” She hung suspended in the air 10 feet below the surface of the plane. Her weight wasn't sufficient to break the elastic and release the parachute, although she weighed 130 pounds. The crowds below gasped at the sight of a plane soaring above them with a girl dangling from it. Edgar McParland knew instinctively that someéthing had happened to the parachute, And he had packed it so it would be safe! Maj. Watson studied the situation. There was nothing but darger in any course of action. THE girl maneuvered herself as much as pos=- sible, wriggling around in the sky, and jerked at the rope leading to the chute bag. It wouldn't open. “I couldn’t climb up the single strand of rope to the plane’s undercarriage. Maj. Wat- son knew it meant death for me if he landed the plane while I dangled underneath. I admit I was scared. I didn't know what was going to happen.” But Watson knew there was one chance left. That was to signal Mrs. McFarland to open the Irvin chute. The chute might soar upward and entangle with the plane, fouling the cone trols and causing a crash. He knew it, and so did Mrs. McFarland. But he took the chance. She reached for the ring to release the chute, It opened and bulged upward toward the plane. Quick as a flash Watson sent the nose of his ship down and the tail up. The chute passed clear of the tail. Then the added pressure broke the elastic on her other device. “But I didn’t know what was going to hap- pen,” the youthful stunt fiyer remembers now when she tells the story—which is almost never. SHE doesn’t like to thinx about it. Neither does her husband, nor her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. McFarland of Canton, who didn't know—until the whole story was over—that their daughter had ever done anything more exciting than climb a tree. “The wind started to blow stronger and X started to wonder just where I would land— and how,” the blue-eyed, wavy-haired parse chute jumper continues. “I couldn’t tell.” She started in the direction of the hangar, Continued on Twenticth Page