The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-10

had anxiously Ielegraphed. Gish treated
as a matter a. course the manner In
which he had lived and safely landed
the flaming plane while the fire licked
about his exposed face. His passenger,
Capt De Lavergne, French Air Attache
at Washington. however, considers he
owes his hfe to the unflinching GOODNESS
Of the pilot.
I'VE were going along in good shape,
flying high over a billy country. when
1t happened" Lieut.. Gish said yesterday.
II was studying the ground below for
rivers and railroads to help guide me
to Binghamton. which was within q
half hours flight. Suddenly | saw a
flash from the engine in front of me.
A sheet OF flame rolled back, set fire
to my helmet and scorched my face and
eyebrows.
II reached back and shut off the gaso-
line line from the carburetor and then
tore on my burning helmet. With my
face shielded by my left arm / dived
down. Strengthened out near the
ground, and luckily we landed In field.
We made hard landing, but neither
of us was hurt I helped De Lavergne
out and we put out the fire."
As soon as possible Lieut.. Gish hur-
ried to Mineola to get another start In
the race. De Lavergne, after announc-
Gish gold cup given him by the Swiss
Government as flying prize, boarded
Capt Roy ". Francis's bomber and con-
tinued the race.
Experts to Catch Bomber.
Lieut.. Gish before leaving Mineola
again, this time by air, announced his
intention of overtaking the slower
bomber and giving Capt. DE Lavergne
1nOthar ride Gi4h Nhn Garyad in
France, wears iron braces on both his
legs as the result OF a crash In France.
With him in the new machine went
Sergeant George Pomeroy. He took off
ut 1 :21 p. NJ.
From time to time news of the phe-
nomenal progress OF Lieut.. Maynard, the
'fying Parson," reached the field and
aroused wild enthusiasm among the un-
fortunate air service officers who were
left behind. They regarded his great
stride across the continent as an indioa.
ton of what aviation will be in the
future, when ships of larger carrying
capacity and greater speed are developed
Early in the afternoon word reached
Col. Miller that the De Haviland plane
piloted by Lieut.. II. d. Smith was forced
by rain and fog TO descend at Rockport
n. Y. She machine crashed on the
rough ground in landing, but neither
Lieut. Smith nor. his passenger, Corporal
4. A. Hunter, was injured. Lieut.. Smith
| reached Rochester, the second contro
station, on Wednesday.
The mystery was solved yesterday as
to the phantom plane 49," which
! dropped from nowhere into Roosevelt
| field during the start Wednesday morn
| ing and then vanished again into ethel
after the timers had noted it's presence
1t developed that the mystery ship" was
mail plane piloted by r. G. Page
which hoped over from Belmont Parl
TO watch the start and envy the con
testants Officially mail plane "Ss" en-.
tered the race.
Racing Machine Comes Back.
One machine of the four dozen which
left the field came back yesterday. Thi,
was the De Haviland ship piloted by
Lieut. Ross c. Kirkpatrick. which landed
at Vernon, " Y. with a defective com
pass. On the return journey while fly
ing at 5000 feet the throttle jammec
and the engine was on the point of go
| ing dead.
Kirkpatrick realized that a forced
landing probably would mean serious in
jury or death for himself and his pas
senger, or, what seemed more important
elimination from the race. He turned
over the control of the machine to Ser
! geant Robert z. Marshall and climbed
| out on to the engine IN front OF him
using his safety belt as strap with
which to hold on. He managed to FREE
the throttle and climb back into hi:
cockpit. The weather during the after
noon became threatening all along thu