The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1912-01-23
YOUNG AVIATOR
MEETS DEATH
IN WHIRLWIND
Rutherford Page, Trying "Turn
on Pivot" Loses Control OF
His AerOpIane
Fall of $50 Feet at Los Angeles
Meet Follows Spectacular
Exhibition
Warned by Curtiss, Yale Grad
uate Said He Was "All
to the Good"

OS ANGELES. Jan. 22.-Ruther-
ford Page, p years old. a grad
uate of Yale 10. and son of Mrs.
- Helen Page of Milford, Conn.,.
and flying as one of the Curtiss avia-
tors, fell $50 feet to his death at 4:lo
o'clock this afternoon on Dominique
field a few moments before the close of
the htird days program of the third
international aviation meet. His death,
the doctors said, was instantaneous.
Almose every bone in Pages body
was broken. His neck was broken and
both legs and arms and his chest
crushed.
Page was endeavoring to turn on a
pivot" at height Of about 80 feet
when thes well of air over the hangers
at the northwest corner of the grounds
caught his planes Page made an effort
TO regain his balance, but evidently
gave up. fearing that the aeroplane had
got beyond his control and when about
so feet in the air jumped clear Of the
machine as it was dropping like plum
met to the ground. He cleared the ma
chine and fell fat into the plowed
ground.
His Flights spectacular
Page was flying for the first time as
a licensed aviator. having been awarded
his license Saturday. His flying early
today was one of the spectacular
features. despite a puffy and treacher-
Gus wind, which lent to the free ex-
preston of predictions that the day
would be marred by accidents. Page
was one of the first to leave the ground
in his new Curtiss Is horsepower ma
chine. In the first heat of the FIVE mile
handicap. in which he and Lincoln
Beachey, the Curtiss veteran, were the
contestants, Page thrilled the crowd by
his sensational maneuvers.
All of the dips and sharp turns made
by Beachey were duplicated by Page.
who was even more daring in his emu
lation of the veteran than the latter
himself.
The more experienced avitors shook
their heads when they witnessed Pages
apparently foolhardy evolutions, and
when he descended Glen Curtiss. who
taught him to fly. cautioned him
against attempting to perform feats of
flying at his first meet that required
years of experience for the pioneer
flyers to learn.
Beat Beachey or Break Neck"
Page merely laughed and assured
Curtiss that he was "all to the good"
During the afternoon the young New
Yorker had told those about the
hangers tat he would beat Beachey
"or break my fool neck"
Page lived IN New York with his
mother and two sisters. His father is
dead. He was graduated from Yale in
1910 and was a member of the Yale
club of New York About six weeks
ago he joined the Curtiss camp at San
Diego. where he received his first in
structions in flying.
Glenn H. Curtiss. after the accident
declared that Pages death was due TO
lack of experience and his extreme dar-
ing.
He was more than fearless" declared
Curtiss He had been called the sec
ond Beachey, and it was predicted by all
who had witnessed Pages early flights
that he would be world beater if some
such thing as happened today did not
end his career.
Wreckage Is Burned
"In trying to make the turn on q
pivot Page apparently encountered a
puff of wind and this, added to the con-
trary currents made by the wind blow
ing around the corner of the hangers.
created a condition that was new to
Page He was not high enough to re-
gain his balance and jumped"
Immediately after the accident the
wreckage Of Pages machine was piled
UP and burned to prevent its being
carried away pieeemeal as souvenirs.
Page is the second man who has
gone to his death while endeavorfng to
outshine Lincoln Peachey in perform
ing the latter's thrilling and aptly
named death dips" the first being
Aviator Badger, who was killed at the
Chicago meet in August last year.
Badger. like young Page. had an
nounced his intention of surprising
Beachey's feats. He was killed by the
collapsing of the wings of his machine
while doing a dip"
In NeritabIe WhirIwind
Page told Beachey a few moments
before he made his fatal flight that his
first sight of a heavier than air ma
chine was when Beachey flew across
his summer home, while making a cross
country flight from Bridgeport TO New
Haven, Conn.
Aviators who saw Page fall declare
he was trying to make right hand
turn-dangero to a beginner at any
time-in veritable whirlwind, when
90 lost control OF his machine.