New-York tribune., 1919-05-31

Catches Ladder of Machine
Ten Feet Above as Two
Are Speeding at 80 Miles
an Hour Over Sheepshead
Hangs as a Pendulum
Holiday Crowds Gasp as
Flock Of Pilots Dive and
Risk Death in Air Derby

Ten thousand persons stood aghas,
yesterday at the Sheepshead Bay
Speedway and watched Lieutenant Or
mer Locklear leap from one airplanc
to another IN midair.
Bat ten feet separated the .wo ma
chlnes as they whirled through space
Est eighty miles an hour. Standing
1upon the upncr wing of the lower air
plane. Locklear waited his opportunity
to jump for the rope ladder dangling
from She under carriage of the upper
machine.
: rad been his intention to make
the jump right in front Of the grand
stand. But the stir breeze That was
blowing held the ladde, out at All
acute angle to the machine above hun.
Nearer and nearer the two machines
came together until it seemed as
.tGougn they would crash and hurl the
.MrInan from his perch
Then IS the airplanes we're about t,
cross over the grandstand Locklca-
made his lean. A cry of horror es-
capped the crowd as they watched tho
machines were hidden from view. Two
seconds later they swept back in
sharp banking turn into full "iew Of
the crowd.
Makes Human Pendulum.
= There, hanging over he end II the
lauder, with his feet. head and arms
dangling. was Locklear. As the ma
chine tore through the air in front oc
sthe grandstand he waved his arms
nockingiy to the spectators below him.
For two full minutes he remained in
this position. his body dangling at the
end OF the rope like q pendulum in the
breeze. Then he slowly climbed hil
way UP into the fuselage of the ma
chine.
AS fitting end to the stunt" Lieu
tenant Shirley Short, who was plotting
the machine. put it into spinning
nose dive, which he maintained until
he was perilously close to the ground
Lieutenant Locklears feat would
have been impossible but for the re-
.amarkable plotting of Lieutenants Shir-
szley Short and II. B. Shields, who ran
&their planes with no more than ten
-feet between the undercarriage of one
and the top wing of the other. Shields
had never before ploted for this
stunt"
Throughout this fight the two ma
chlnes bumped unsteadily in the heated
AR, and only the frmest handling by
The two airnen prevented them from
crashing
Earlier in the afternoon Lieutenant
i.eekiear had given an exhibition of
acrobatics in the air on Elliotts ma
rhine. As the airplane went back and
forth in front of the grandstand at
tremendous speed he hung from the
undercarriage with his heels and waved
ct the crowd. He climbed all over it
and did various calisthenics on the
wings and tail
The course at sheepshead Bay was
patrolled by the aviation "cons" of New
sfork City. They failed, however. to
keep the crowds from climbing over the
steei fences and getting on the infeld T
Held Up at Gates
The only time they seemed to be I
eHleient was when Lockiear was brought
ecut 70 make his bow before the audi
Sence- lie bad been brought across the +
SheId IN an automobile. but at the gates
the aerial policemen refused to let the I
car 20 through.
In consequence Locklear was COM
reiled to walk along the speedway in
tire centre of mob of BOYS who had
clambered over the rails.
During the afternoon there was an
aerisl derby with four starters. three
OF which were Curtiss biplanes, and
one old-type Bleriot monoplane. The
setfpr ,.lo
VINO finally left the race to indulge in
aerial acrobatics TO the amusement of
The crowd
Z, ne other three finished in the fol
loving order over the twenty-ive-mile
eourse: First Lieutenant H. B. Shields:
second Lieutenant Shirley Short, and
shird, Lieutenant Paul Micclli The
Time was 1915.
Domenyoz lived up to his title Of
champion upside down fier Of the
5*ofld' during the afternoon, and also
pefsorFned several thrilling stunts"
ss'l@' appeared Ill the more remarkable
20 fie% Of his peculiar machine
FOR fifteen minutes Lieutenants Eli
o. and Short gave an exhibition Of
ssaai aerial vaudeville, flying within
IEsnty feet Of each other throughout
SVOpcd the loop together, rolled
shd dc all the tricks known TO the air
1sn. Finally, ~nen within few feet
Es@ the ground, they did the "lmmel-
Earn turn together
h&ser me same two airmen went
s'foaga all the cvoIations OF an aerial
pate Every evolution used at the
f.foat ~ aerial warfare was exhibited,
ssh0 nnally ore q them. assuming the
t'@'t'oa II the ranouished, nose -divcd
~ eartb, coming out Of the spin just
= tins q laad safely.
9vtofor's s Life Is Saued