The sun., 1918-07-08
RESNATI TUTOR
KILLED BY. FALL
Gino, Noted Airman, Crashes
to Mineola Field After
a Nose Dive.
TRAINED 40 U. S. AVJATORS
Italian Was Rated Among Ex-
perts as One Of Great
est Fliers.
TRAINED 40 U. S. AVJATORS

Fighting aviators need many tricks
Among other things. they must learn
how to flip tho tail Of a plane toward
the zenith and drop vertically. They
don't Just fall. They shoot earthward
at a speed which is equal to that of a
falling body plus that produced by the
pull Of tie powerful motor. The ma
nnuvre Is called the nose dive and when
It is completed successfully the plane is
suddenly righted and sails ahead on an
even keel. But sometimes something
goes wrong.
Major Mitchell, q famous man who
became an aviator died trying the nose
dive Saturday. Sergeant Gino Gianfelice
a humble man who had become a IA
nous aviator, met the same swift death
yesterday on Field No. l at Mineola. He
had planned-this is the trick Fate
played him--to fly over tho funeral cor
tese Of the former Mayor and drop roses
upon 1t as he did upon II funeral pro-
cession OF his friend and pupil. Capt
Resnatl, in May. and he discussed the
plan few minutes before he died.
An hour earlier he had been entrusted
with the lives OF Gen. William I. Kenly,
chief OF tie Department Of Military
Aeronautics OF the United States Army :;
Capt. d'Annunzio and Lieut.. Testoni OF
the Royal Italian Flying Corps.
He took them aloft for the third night
OF the great new Caproni. fitted with
three Liberty motors, the first American
built Caproni. He 81 lowed them how
easily 1t man9uvred. how sure II was
and how agile 1t was in climbing. The
great plane alighted after nearly an hour
in tie air, and Gen. Kenly and his other
passengers congratulated him warmly.
Decides to show Tricks.
Then the pilot decided he would like
to show the distinguished party on the
feld-which also included Col. Arnold.
Col. Deeds. Col Walden. Lieut.. Col. Hos
mer Howard f. Coffin. Gen. Cormack.
head OF the British Aviation Mission in
the United States: Col Simphill, the
Handley Page pilot. and Giuseppe
Bevione, head OF the italian Military
Mission for Aeronautics--the virtues of
an italian pursuit plane. the S. V. A.,
single scatter with a ESQ horsepower
Spad engine.
1le icdpcu lnlO tHe seat OI the lltIIc
machine and scared upward. Then for
half an hour he gave an exhibition
which thrilled and amazed his audience.
As always was the case when he was
in the air. every one on the held dropped
everything to watch him. He did loops
and double loops: showed bursts of
marvellous speed and then throttled
down to show how slowly he could fly
and still keep headway; he did side
slips and tail spins: leaf falls-showed
his whole long repertoire of acrobatics.
every feat useful in combat. It was
noted, too. by the experienced pilots who
watched with silent admiration that
their distinguished colleague kept always
perilously close to the ground. that the
visitors might miss no detail OF the show.
He saved the nose dive for the last.
Crashes During Last Trick.
1t started. The spectators held their
breaths. How far could the man go and
still save himself? The ground leaped
UP at him.
Hes gone!' some one gasped.
A second later the plane hit the field,
It rebounded twenty feet in the air 1t
came down again - splintered. They
rushed TO him and pulled or the tangled
wreckage that a moment before had
been bird machine, There he lay. still
breathing.
But he died In the ambulance which
bore him toward the field hospital
signor Bevione said last night the
pilot was no more than 400 feet from
4.
He believes Gino misjudsed the distance.
Gino. man of s2, who had come
from humble sphere of life that mill
tated against his rise tc high rank in the
Italian army. came TO America with the
late Capt Antonio Sylvio Resnati when
Resnati. DAnnunzio and other famous
experts OF the Royal Italian Flying
Corps were sent to the United States to
teach American army men the fine points