Omaha daily bee., 1919-10-15

perience no difficulty in reaching
Omaha.
"As we left the ground l attained
an altitude of about 1900 feet, which
I maintained until l decided to try
and make landing. We must have
passed over Omaha about an hour
and IS minutes after leaving Des
Moines, judging from the time that
we crashed to the ground near
Yutan. At no time did I see any
thing that looked like a city, and
probably would not have known
that we had passed it had l not at
tempted to make the fatal landing.
Will Return East.
"The plane is so badly wrecked
that we cannot continue in the race.
1t will be boxed and Grated and re-
turned to Mineola. My companions
and myself will return to Mineola
tomorrow. by train"
The first accident to mar the per-
feet record made by the Omaha
control station at Ak-Sar-Ben field,
in the transcontinental air Derby,
occurred at $50 yesterday, when
It, J. T. Johnson, plotting. plane
No. 106, an SE-s, was forced to
make a landing at Forty-second and
Valley streets when he became lost
in the dense fog.
Lieutenant Johnson was severely
bruised and the axle of his plane
was broken and the center section
wires on the wings of his plane also
were broken when he effected the
landing. He mistook the landing
place for the Ak-Sar- Been field and
was so near the earth when he saw
his mistake that he was unable to
again take the air.
Is Slightly Injured.
His injuries, however, consisted
mainly of few cuts about the face
and hands and severe shaking up.
When he regained his directions he
took the. air. with his plane unre-
paired, and made his way to Ak
Sar-Ben field, landing there at
l0:l9:52 a. m. Mechanics at the field
Immediately started to work re-
pairing his plane.
Fog flinders Flyers.
The weather conditions in Omaha
yesterday, the dense fog and the oc-
casional rain, made for the worst
conditions that the aviators have
encountered in their entire trip
across the continent. It is impos-
sible for the pilots Of the machines
to determine their direction, and
the danger of accidents in landing
is more than doubled.
Soldiers. under the direction of
Lieutenant Wells, spent the entire
morning in shooting flares and other
light signals into the air, to guide
the pilots, but without success.
Planes Make Getaway.
Shortly after noon the skies
cleared sufficiently for the four
planes which spent the night in
Omaha to make getaway.
Plane No. 10, piloted by 1t D. B.
Gish, was the first to make an as
cent, leaving Ak-Sar- Ben field at
l2:22:3S. He was quickly followed
by plane No. 10. piloted by Maj. ].
w. Simms, who got away at 1890:
Al. Maj. Henry Abbey. in a De
Haviland-4, No. z, was the third
plane to get away, leaving the field
at l2:44:l2.
Plane No. q piloted by Capt.
Felix Steine, who landed eight and a
half miles southeast of Council
Bluffs during heavy fog during the
morning, arrived at the field at
l2:30:4l after managing to start his
motor and fly out of the corn field
where he had been lodged for about
two hours.
Plane No. 2s, left the flying ficld
at ri and after flying for abcu
a quarter of an hour returned te
Ak-Sar-Ben field because of the
inability to make the distance to St
Paul safely.
Same Conditions at St. Paul.
Reports received from St. Pau
yesterday were to the effect that tn
same conditions prevailing here
were holding up the westwar
bound pilots who spent the night a
that control station.
By holding the four pilots, VIII
arrived Monday night, during tn
day and with the arrival of Lieuter
ant Johnson's plane at Ak-Sar- Be
field, the FIVE planes were on tn
field at the same time, and gave tn
flying center the air of real aeris
. camp. Despite the bad weather.
! crowd of several hundred person
travelled to the field, during tn
course of the day to view the planes
The flight of Major Simms an
Lieutenant Gish from Des Moline:
late Monday afternoon, was on
of the most exciting that has fea
tured any lap of the transccntinenta
derby, so far. The two pilots LEI
Herring field at Des Moines a
practically the same time. and 70
mile after mile across the state G
Iowa, they made the trip side b
SIDE thar ,,aaraJ Cl,,,e,f p1,,Q,