The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-11-24
FALLS 500 FEET
To HIS DEATH
Johnstone d ops Out OF Sky IN
His Wright Biplane.
AIRCRAFT TURNS TRIPLE SOMtRSAUlT
While Crowd Was Cheering Spec
tacular Flight At Denver Meet,
Holder OF the Altitude Record Is
Seen Trying To Keep Atop OF
overturning Aircraft--Is Dashed
To Instant Death-.-souvenir Hunt
ers Strip Body and Draw SpIint-
ers From Wounds.

SIb ETOul WOunUh.
Denver, Col. Especially With one
wing of his machine crumbled like a
piece of papersRalph Johnstone, the
brilliant young aviator, holder of the
worlds altitude record, dropped like
plummet from a height of 500 feet
into the inclosure at Overland Park
aviation field and was instantly
killed.
When the spectators crowded
about the inclosure reached him his
body lay beneath the engine of the
biplane, with the white planes that
had failed him in his time of need
wrapped about 1t Like a shroud
Nearly every bone In his body was
broken.
He had gamhlod with death once
too often, but he played the game to
the end, fighting coolly and grimly
to the last second to regain control of
his broken machine. Fresh from his
triumphs at Belmont Park, where he
had broken the worlds record for
altitude with flight of 9,714 feet,
Johnstone attempted to give the thou
sands of spectators an extra thrill
with his most daring feat, the spiral
glide, which has made the Wright
aviators famous. The spectators got
their thrill, but it cost Johnstone his
life.
His Fight For Life.
The fatal flight was the second
Johnstone had made. In the first
flight, when he was in the air with
Hoxsey and Brookins, he had gone
through his usual program of dips
and glides with the machine ap-
parently under perfect control. Then
Johnstone rose again, and after a few
circuits of the course to gain height
headed toward the foothills.
Still ascending, he swept back in a
big circle, and as he reached the
north end of the enclosure, he start
ed his spiral glide. He was then at
an altitude Of about 500 feet. With
his plane tilted at an angle of almost
80 degrees, he swooped down in a
narrow circle, the aeroplane seeming
to turn almost in its own length. AS
he started the second circle, the mid
die spur, which braces the left side of
the lower plane, gave way, and the
wing tips of both upper and lower
planes folded up as though they had
been hinged. For a second, John
stone attempted to right the plane by
warping the other wing up. Then
the Mortified spectators saw the plane
swerve like a wounded bird and
plunged straight toward the earth.
The Dash To Earth.
Johnstone was thrown from his
seat as the nose of the plane swung
downward. He caught on one of the
wire stays between the plane and
grasped one of the wooden braces of
the upper plane with both hands.
Then, working with hands and feet,
he fought by main strength to warp
the planes so that their surfaces
might catch the air and check his
descent. For a second II seemed
that he might succeed. for the foot
ball helmet he wore blew off and fell
much more rapidly than the plane.
The hope was momentary, how
ever, for when about 800 feet from
the ground, the machine turned COM
pletely over and the spectators fed
wildly as the broken plane, with the
aviator still fighting grimly In the
mesh of wires and stays, plunged
among them with a crash.
Scarcely had Johnstone hit the
ground before morbid men and wom-
en- swarmed over the wreckage, fight
ing with each other for souvenirs.
One of the broken wooden stays had
gone almost through Johnstone's
body. Before doctors or police could
reach the scene, one man had torn
this splinter from the body and run
away, carrying his trophy with the
avintor's blood still dripping from its
ends. The crowd tore away the
canvass from over the body, and even
fought for the gloves that had pro-
tected Johnstone's hands from the
cold.