The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-31
Passenger Saves Inventor, Stunned By Being Flung Against Steering Wheel, and Lighthouse Keeper Rescues Both From Float ing Wreckage.

In view of hundreds of pe-
 destrians lining the seawalI at
 Seaside park, John Dale Cooper,
 $40 Seaview avenue, builder of
 new type of military hydro
 aeroplane, and Ivan Stengel, of
 Montclair, N- J., a gas engine
 expert, fell from their aero-I
 plane into the outer harbbr at
 1O:15 this morning, when the
 forward pontoon of the dipping craft struck a piece of drift wood and wrecked the machine.
 Flung violently against the
 steering post, Cooper was rem dered almost helpless. But for the timely aid of StengeI, who struck out sturdily through the icy waters and seized Cooper by
 the hair, the inventor might have perished. Stengel helped Cooper to a piece of the wreck which helped them to keep af1oat until many minutes later sKeepers Baldwin of the Bridge port light reached them with a rOWbOat.
 The machine buoyed by it's pom toons, remained a1oat, but was so seriously crippled that it was lowed ashore in sections. Cooper, not much the worse for his experience, this af- { ternoon said he believed $20O would ! cover the damage
 This is not Cooper's first close call from death. He has had an adventur- ous career. Famous first as a bicycle ! racer, he entered the realm of aeron- ] autics at the Curtiss school at Ham, 1 mondsport, N. .Y., where he mastered l aviation so thoroughly that Glenn M. Curtiss selected him for the import ant mission of introducing the Curttss biplane in the Russian army. Scores J of aviators of the Russian army owe their skill with aircraft to Cooper's instruction, for he remained abroad many months schooling the Czar's soldiery in the intricacies of navigat- ing the air.
 The machine wrecked this morning is designed for military use. Thrice had the inventor and his passenger arisen many feet above the water, then dipped gracefully. They had circled the lighthouse, and were re- turning towards the hangar, near the Connecticut Co.'s. powerhouse in Sea- view avenue, when Cooper decided to dip once more. The machine carri&s 8 pontoon fore and aft
 As the craft, skimming over the water, settled into the harbor, the forward pontoon crashed into a log of driftwood, and the buoyant support was torn from the structure. Instantly the forward part was submerged, and in the sudden halting of the craft, which was making nearly a mile a minute, Cooper was thrust forward SO violently upon the steering wheel that the breath left his body.
 Stengel was perched on the stabi1- izer or tail, of the machine. and though he was tossed into the water, he escaped contact with the wreckage, and was quickly at the side of Cooper, who was bobbing about almost help ess in the icy water.
 Baldwin raced through the calm waters of the outer harbor in his little ,owboat, and in Q, few minutes reach sd the innperiled twain. Cooper had recovered from the shock of his col- ision with the steering apparatus and except for bruise on the face, was lot hurt Stengel had no injuries.
 News of the mishap quickly reached he Bridgeport Towing Co.'S office Robert Ferrett, the manager, hastened ut on the tug Robert McAllister with @aptain Frank Hancort, but before hey reached the scene the men had ,eeen rovved ashore, on Seaview ave- lue, by the lighthouse keeper.
 Employes of the employment office if the LocomobiIe Go. of America wit essed the accident. They sent a hur- jed call for help to police headquar- CTS and the automobile patrol wagon with Driver Denis Toolan and Police oen Simon Mccullough and Samuel gregory and Sergt: James O'Neh hur- jed to the seawan at Seaside park. everal lines of rope were brought long in the patrol wagon. There was hI11Q
 The trip this morning was the first O be made in the ship with new ouipment Cooper had just installed 1vo 90 h. D. engines, and when he saw he weather conditions this morning, le decided to try them out at once The trip was highly successful, until he last dip brought the pontoon into ollision with the drift wood.
 The wrecked plane was towed to the angar shed this afternoon and will @ repaired by the worlEmen employed nere The plane is valued at several
 (Continued on Page s.(