Charlevoix county herald., 1912-12-14
I'm ~ AN the hydroaeroplane!-
That will be the cry
N along our coast when ship
wrecked vessels are pound


wrecked vessels are pound
ing on the reefs.
A simple yet nearly tragic incident
at Sea Cliff, Long Island, on the 10th
OF October last demonstrated most
emphatically the practicability of an
airship with pontoons-a hydroaero-
plane-as life saving apparatus,
writes Roy l. McCardell in the New
York World.
Walter Strohbach, aged twenty
three, chauffeur of Flatbush, has the
distinction Of being the first person
rescued from watery grave by means
of hydroaeroplane. The greater dis
tinction OF being the first hydroaero-
plane operator to save a drowning man
comes to Charles Valid, aged thirty,
enthusiastic aviator.
Strohbach was upset from a row.
boat during bad weather in Hampstead
harbor, and Valid, mile away, con-
Quoting. experiments in a thirty-five
mile an hour gale. swooped down in
his hydroaeroplane upon the exhaust
ed and sinking man and saved him.
Since this repeated demonstrations
prove conclusively that the hydroaero-
plane not alone can be used to rescue
men overheard, but is available also
to save imperiled persons from doom
ed ships on lee shores in the widest
weather.
For Coast Guard Service.
The matter of the efficacy of n.y.
droaeroplanes as coast guard life saw
ing appliances has been brought to
the attention of the United States gov
eminent and the Volunteer Life Saw
ing Service and efforts are being made
to put hydroaeroplanes into practical
life saving service along with the life
boat, the lifeline and mortar and the
breeches buoy.
Let Valid, the aviator, tell the story,
for l went out to his hangar at Sea
Cliff and discussed the matter with
him.
The hangar is a wide, low shed by
the waterside, with rolling doors that
open the front to permit the wide
winged hydroaeroplane its entrance
and its exit.
But Wald? Well Valid is a boy
of thirty. That is, he has a mans
years upon him, but his every action
and all his enthusiasm are boyish.
Consider a smooth faced little fell
low, sallowed by the sun; his height
five feet five; his weight 1870; small
hands, small feet, sinewy and alert; a
quick but quiet way the confident air
of the mechanic who knows-that's
Valid, the aviator, first man to save a
life from flying machine.
"Strohbach?" he said in response to
my first question. We'll, he was a
chauffeur holidaying out here, and he
went out into the bay in a rowboat in
a rising gale and got capsized.
Saw Man In Danger.
CT was just showing my machine out
OF the hangar" said Valid, taking me
to the waterside and pointing out over
the Sound, and had taken the water
when heard the cries of people along
shore who had seen the accident;
these and the drumming OF feet down
the plank causeway told me something
out of the ordinary was taking place
out on the water.
upon the rougher water of the bay
showed me an overturned rowboat
with a man clinging to it, while
hundred yards away and being carried
further out by the strong ebb tide l
saw, bobbing up between the white
caps, the head and splashing arms Of
man who was giving every evidence
by the awkward energy Of his actions
that he was an inexperienced swim
mer.
Il threw the motor over and the
propellers began to hum. Another half
minute and the machine was moving,
gaining speed at every turn. The pom
ICONS hit the whitecaps at the mouth
of the cove and the old water bird
skipped like a hard flung fiat stone
from wave to wave. She looks like
she is humping the bumps when she
does that, but she rides like feather
bed in twice the gale this was"
Made Two Miles in Hurry.
when ! first sighted the overturn-
ed boat" he went on, lit was about
two miles away. The spray from
where the pontoon bows struck the
water stung my face and showered
over the planes, but with hop, skip
and a jump, and riding like rocking
chair the old flier hit the high spots
on the bay, and before you could have
counted hundred | was within fifty
feet of the struggling Strohbach, now
almost all in and going under.
81 could see his friend, who was
still clinging to the capsized rowboat,
was in no danger, and that motor
boats were being started up along
shore to get to him. so kept my eye
on the weakening man in the water,
and shouted to him TO hold up.
Then shut off the motor, and turn.
ed the rudder so that we scraped the
right pontoon within eight inches OF
him. As soon as ! had stopped the
engine stepped down on the frame
that holds the aeroplane to the pom
ond NO want mast the man