Evening Star Newspaper, September 2, 1930, Page 7

JUMP! Air Battleship Plunges to Earth as 4 of Crew of 5 Jump. Fifth Member Never Left Bflmber When Brokfln Propeller Wreaks Havoc. BY DON GLASSMAN. superdreadnaught of the ht Bombing Squadron ‘taxies down the runway as the sun heavies over squat hangars and bathes the port amber light: s The Wilbur Wright ground crew stand by and watch the bleating bomb- er dip wings and roll over the G grassy ening erescendo. The tail group rises The landing gear brushes the surface intermittently, Then the whole ship mounts slowly, This bomber is the Air Corps’ prize battleship. Stem to stern, she bristles defiance; her voice is a snarl, a roar and a boom. Below cockpit hatches she can carry explosive death to a city like London. ~ Above hatches, her arma- ment repels pursuit and attack. It was 8:45 as she zoomed over the experimental station. Dragging wings, the bomber flew a circuit of the field and p.cked bearings. Lunch at Columbus. A She was embarking on an innocent | mission, of no more importance than return to her home port, Langley Field, Va. War Department orders had com- manded the flight. For almost a month the crew had participated in an- nual war maneuvers at Kelly Field, Tex. Nose buried in wind, the bomber screwed her way north toward Colum- bus, filling the air with the raucous drumming of propellers and motors. B ok P S0y manwhea S e lower Sight wing and slicing mauve and maroon patch, descriptive of the city. The flight leader had no thought of stopping. Bolling Fleld, Washington, was his goal that day. But minor trouble in the right motor had caused it to lose synchronism with the other. The helmsman reported that the motor's r.pm. had dropped from 1,650 to 1,350. Before crossing the Ap- palachians it might be expedient to land at Norton Field and make repairs. He turned her rudders, and bsnked, driving the prow into rippling wind. The ship dived into port. Mechanics busied themselves over the right lung. The crew lunched. Removing. the hood, technicians pried into the bomber's anatomy and discov- ered her ailment. Contact brushes had disappeared and the rotors were chewed. Repairs were quickly made, and by the time the crew had eaten &ll was in readiness for resuming flight. After gassing, they climbed on board. Calling the ship’s roll, we name laj. Lewis H. Brereton, commandant; deut. Bernard M. Bridget, pilot and as- sistant commandant; Master Sergt. Clyde M. Taylor and Staff Sergt. Fred P. Miller, technicians, and Pvt. Daniel Le Roy Yeager, operations clerk. Pvt. Yeager in the Nose. ‘The clerk was a sapling in his nine- teenth year, proud to sail a dread- naught on a cross-country voyage, and exalted with membership in the bomb- er's crew. The annual maneuvers at Kelly Figld had impressed him, too. He wanted a flying appointment, to pilot 10.000-pound battleships and flourish | the silver-wing insignia. Maj. Brere- ton assigned him the observer's cock- pit in the prow. - From his station noth- ing passed that did not engross Yeager. He would sight emergency ports and de- liberate on the best method of mooring | to the earth. He studied Ohio's roll- ing terrain, the multitinted cities, sinu- ous rivers and patched fields. They intrigued him. And he was not so green in the air; had flown a number of times before, but never had taken such a long journey and seen so much in the brief lapse of a month. It was almost noon when the bomber embarked from Norton Field and re- sumed her interrupted ‘fiight. Steadily,{ she plowed a wave through. Lieuft. Bridget climbed to 1,000 feet, leveled out. , Heading for his first dmark, Reynoldsburg, 10 miles eask”of Colum- bus, the ship's operatigh continued uneventfully. The crem-fell into com- fortable relaxation. “The bomber cruised beneath a disk g¢“hammered brass. _-Maj. Breretofi and Lieut. Bridget sat Aiz;me control pit. Yeager, the /b0y, rode in the bomber’s nose. rear cockpit Sergt. Miller was the radio receiv to the wave- of a Columbus station, and Sergt. ’Mnrunt beside, somewhat elevated on form. & pla Propeller Bursts. How suddenly it came, no one has been able to tell. Only the time, 12:10 p.m., can be ascertained. Above the hoarse baying of Libertys hardly anything could be heard. ‘While above the Reynoldsburg Ceme- tery and slightly south of the town's | corporation line, & thunderous percus- | sion assailed the eardrums. An eruption out of the blue could not have thrown more fright and twitching fear into men. The crew sprang out of lethargy and flexed its muscles. Yeager, at his vantage point, swiveled his head in time to_see a 10-foot duralumin _propeller COLONIAL ANTARACITE. “Guaranteed No Slate. No Clinkers” Ask the Man Who Uses' It Ralph J. Moore Coal Co. 1406 N. Cap. St. Pot. 0970 Pot. 0971 ENTERPRISE SERIAL BUILDING ASSOCIATION 7th St. & La. Ave. N.W. 64th Issue of Stock Now Open for Subscription Money loaned to members on easy monthly payments James F. Shea Secretary James E. Connelly President It's Time for Rug Cleaning Many housewives wait until Fall o have their rugs cleaned. If you are one of them...we are prepared to serve your promptly and satisfactorily. We literally “shampoo” rugs with mild Ivory suds, leaving them spic and span, and with renewed beauty. Why not call MR. PYLE now for an estimate? " Nat’l 3257.3281-2036 Sanitary Carpet & Rug Cleaning Co. 106 Indiana Ave. 5 Her motor roar swells to a deaf- | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1930.° Tales From the Caterpillar Club No. 5—4 Caterpillars and a Bomber. | 20th | | | | | | LIEUT. BERNARD A. BRIDGETT blade whirl off the hub and burst to shrapnel as stresses and strains tore its | substance. The Niagaran clatter was intensified as the unharnessed propeller | shaft leaped from 1,400 to about 12,000 | ©.p.m. Generated by this terrific speed, | dynamic heat almost vaporized metals and engine oil. Sudden expansion set | in. Red-hot grape flew helter-skelter. | The Liberty was shattered. Yeager had been scanning the airscape with the placid dignity of an admiral on his flagship's bridge. He felt the | onslaught first. “An infernal fragment glanced off his forehead, probably stun- ned and deadened his senses. No one heard him cry out; if he did, the motor's salvos drowned his voice, the disrupted propeller whisk a short space through the air before ripping off a great ckunk. Rudderless Derelict. | As the crew rallied its thoughts, the right Liberty discharged | more shrapnel and raked the ship. One | plece disabled the pilot's leg. but | held to the controls. Maj. Brereton grasped the impasse first. It meant, “Jump!” the word and act common to Caterpillars. In the rear cockpit, Sergt. Taylor and Sergt. Miller tore off their radio helmets at the first bass note of thunder. the rising curtain. Mad, agonizing clangor terrorized them. What did it mean?. # ‘The clipped right wing sailed earth- ward surrounded by the floatsam of wreckage, strips of loose linen and en- gine parts. From due east, the bomber’s course shifted to south. In the pilot pit Lieut. Bridget threw himself against thrusts, forces and in- teractions that connived to drag the battleship down. Ile urged his wounded leg against the rudder bar. He turned the wheel left, right. Controls were dead. Now she staggered like a rudder~ less derelict. Ailerons, flippers and tafl hung limp and lifeless. Not one post from which he could command, this dreadnaught. { The only normal part about the plane was the left Liberty. Throughout the When the helmsman throttled the left motor, the dreadnaught answered with a steeper, faster dive. -He jerked the gun. She raised her bow into a climb- iag turn. Deserting the battleship was his last thought. Whang-bam! The motor cowling flew off Water lines glex:%t Steaming’ spray showered his ! War Monster's Death. How that/motor stuck to her bed is a splendid enigma. Plainly, every dis- senting force that could be mustered under a set of given conditions tried to pulverize her substance. he battleship wailed loud and long er sides rocked and sagged. Colossal (as she was, the engine disturbance made her quake: 10,000 pounds of weld- ed, riveted and sewn substance flut- tered like an autumn leaf. She dipped | broad wings, and it was easy to see her | wounded vitals. She crumbled, this | bomb-hurler, and perished over a grave yard where men are buried, a victim of self-slaughter. No enemy armadas had charged against her; never had she bombed a fortress, save in a war game. As that steel-plated heart lay torn p{)lng, her vascular . All over the coun- tryside they heard her reverberating (left) and MAJ. L U Maj. Breretor. and Lieut. Bridget saw | staggering | | he‘ They were backstage and did not see | fusillade this engine sang duleet music. | VIS H. BRERERTON. S. Army Air Corps Photos. moans. An awful sight, this dread- naught tumbling ignominiously. When the propeller first collapsed, the prow had been slightly elevated. In the next few seconds she flew a right spiral and entered other uncontrollable maneuvers that wrecked equipoise. Maj. Brereton stepped out of his pit, crying, “Jump!” He swung over the side, onto the left wing, and dropped off the trailing edge, pulling his cord immediately. “Jump! .God, Cant You Seeing his commander leave, Lieut. Bridget raised himself out of the seat. He regarded Yeager slumped in the ob- server’s cockpit. The ship's clerk wore a pallid mask. His eyes looked desolate and glazed, watching the helsman drag a limp leg over the cowling. Bridget’s raw voice boomed: “Jump! God, can't you —2" Bridget was blown off the wing, 600 | feet from the ground. Taylor stepped out next. As he sepa- | rated it scemed earth was too near for |a parachute jump. Die or jump, he | had prodded “himself, and chose the life pack. on | plight. Whatever the matter, he rea- soned, | standing still. “His shipmates were dis- | appearing overside. He saw their white | umbrellas blossom. It must be his turn. | off. The wreck was deserted, save for | Yeager. Whether he was stunned, fear- | ful or maimed, no one has shown. He may have been imprisoned in the pit, or enervated by horror, or frozen in & | state of torpor. A few seconds after Miller jumped it was useless for any one to parachute from that bomber. The clerk sank with | the ship’s prow. They saw his body | collapsed, and consuming flames surged over her carcass. Taylor fell safely into & tree's branches. Hearing groans, he glanced {down and saw the bomber's pilot en- | shrouded by his parachute. A doctor | was attending Lieut. Bridget when Tay- lor reached the ground. He happened | to be Dr. C. H. Wilson, a former lieu- tenant in the Royal Canadian Flying | Corps. The Explosion. Maj. Brereton had fared better than | his helmsman. shroud lines effectively, he had fallen into a plowed field. Sergt. Taylor . Brereton joined, boarded a passing automobile and hastened to the smoking bomber, About 100 people had assembled. Breal ing through the line of spectators, they saw Yeager lying motionless, half out of the cockpit, a gash across his fore- |head. They thought Miller might be |in the wreckage, too. Efforts to release the clerk’s body were futile. The bomber glowed in red heat. A blaze spread over her hulk, and it almost cooked one's flesh to get close. Then the fuel tanks | —475-gallons of gasoline and 37 gallons of oil—were sure to tear open. “Back! Back! Stand back, please! These tanks are going to explode,” Sergt. Taylor warned everybody. The curious heeded his warning and no sooner had they reached a safe dis- | tance than the reservoirs burst with re- sounding detonations, | wreckage into the air. Volatile fluid sprayed the bomber and prepared her for the conflagration. Flames hissed and danced. A bonfire raged. An alarm brought fire engines clang- ing all the way from Columbus. A mili- Meanwhile, Miller was ignorant of his | there was nothing gained by | He swung over the fuselage and dived | | hanging half out when the dreadnaught | Unable to slip his | heaving much | |tary guard double-timed from Fort | Hayes. Picket lines were _established and fire hose laid down. All afternoon gushing streams of water played over | the wreck. Firemen fought three hours | to extinguish the blaze and make the | eharred ruins safe to approach. Where the Devil Did You Go? From far and near people came in | auto caravans until all the adjacent roads were choked. Several were trampled in the mad stampede. By late afternoon salvagers were able | to mnear the “plane and bring forth | | Yeager's body. 1 | Sergt. Taylor was assigned to guard | the wreck. Lieut. Bridget was ambulanced to Grant Hospital, treated for his injured | 1eg and discharged the following day. Maj. Brereton and Sergt. Miller sent reports to the chief of the Air Corps. Four caterpillars came into the order performance, Maj ed, “That was my first | jump, and it will be my last if I can help it. I left within 10 seconds after | the propeller cut loose. Immediately after the chute opened and pulled me | upright, I saw the ship behind me.” When Taylor and Miller found each | other alive, the ensuing conversation broke out: “Where the devil did you go? I yelled | when I went over_the side, and again | as I jumped,” Taylor said. “I ‘didn't hear your voice. You see, I still wore my radio helmet. Of course, | |1 heard the noise and felt the plane shiver. I saw you look out of the win- | dow first. I started to go, but my hel- | met held me back. I knew something | was wrong when you disappeared over | the side. 1 followed,” Miller answered. | | “When the-chute caught wind, I took | | my bearings and saw Lieut. Bridget | headed for a church steeple. His chute | hit_the spire, and he bumped the roof, | | sliding down the eaves. When I lit I | heard him yelling. I found him in the | church yard, flat on his back.” “And Yeager?” inquired Miller. “I stood up on the edge just before jumping and looked into "the front cockpit, but couldn't see Yeager, and thought that he, too, had left.” | 'The special board of officers ap: pointed to invesiigate the accident ported: “Yeager's death was due to crush-| ing injury of the head and body when the bomber struck ground. . . . “That failure of the propeller was probably due to repeated stresses, | | which caused it to break at the base | of the blade, where there is rapid, change of cross section. “That both propellers had been modi- fied by the Materiel Division in order | to reduce the rapid change of cross section. This change had been made as the bomber passed through Dayton on its way to the Kelly Field maneu- vers. Both blades had been inspected under a magnifying glass to determine whether cracks had developed. None was _found. “Failure was du; to faulty material in the propeller’s design.” As evidence of the puissance behind the bits of flying metal, several of them were found more than a mile from where the baitleship sank. Aside from the loss of Yeager, the admission of four members to the Cat- erpiilar Club inspired fresh panegyrics for the Army’s life-saving pack. Never before in the history of avia- | tion had so many men been saved by rachute dufing a_ single mishap the paTach rient, 1930, (Néxt story: Caterpillar Hunter, the taciturn hero of two jumps.) “RED” DEMONSTRATION | HALTED IN LOS ANGELES 26 Alleged Communists, Including Two Women, Are Arrested Pre- Parade. ceding Strec* By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, September 2.— Twenty-four men and two women, Who attempted to conduct a Communistic demonstration at the Plaza here yester- day, were arrested on charpes ranging from blocking sidewalks to criminal syndicalism. Police were stationed about the Plaza, and as the alleged Communists con- verged on it, they were halted. Thirty men, women and children, wearing red scarfs and displaying ban- ners carrying pleas for defense of the Red revolution in China and release of the Imperial County sabotage plot prisoners, formed a circle about a speaker on Main street, but were dis- peTsed. Several policemen were kicked and seratched. 3020 Dent Pl. N.W. Just North of 30th & Q Streets 3 Rooms, Kitchen, Bath and Porch, $40 not another winter without IRON FIREMAN “ITH AN Iron Fireman on the job you need not dread winter, nor worry over fuel bills. You will be comfortable, too, because Iron Fireman heating is so inexpensive that you can afford an abundance of it Iron Fireman non-agitated forced #nderfiring cuts fuel bills 15 to 50 per cent. It burns smaller burns less coal. Automatically maintains s of coal which cost less. 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CHAIRS We have arranged them in settings so that you may see just how they will look with rugs and other pieces of furniture. During the Sale, Wing Chairs are from $75.00, Easy Chairs from $55.00, Open Arm Chairs from $35.00, Boudoir Chairs from $25.00 and Side Chairs from $20.00. SOFAS MosT of the Sofas you see on our floors have been upholstered by our own workmen. There is a reproduction of a Duncan Phyfe masterpiece in hair cloth cover at $360.00, another in damask or tapestry cover for $265.00, one of Colonial influence in tapestry at $180.00 and @ Queen Anne Sofa in tapestry at $140.00. F ABLES THERE is enough variety of these to enable a choice for any particular period scheme. A Duncan Phyfe drop leaf Table in rosewood or mahogany is $105.00, a two pedestal Table of Elizabethan design is $110.00, a Walnut draw top of Jacobean influence with double pedestal and stretcher is $85.00 and o three pedestal Colonial Table in mahogany is $70.00. g LAMPS TAB'.E LAMPS with bases of porcelain from China, England and France and modern ceramics from this country, Bridge and Floor Lamps of bronze ond wrought iron, Boudojr Lamps with delicate mountings —most of them with shades made to our own order are now materially reduced for this Event. Caaee W. & J. SLOANE 709 TWELFTH STREET, N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C.