Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-13
Pilot Escapes Uninjured-
Propeller and Wheel
of Ship Broken.
RECORD AT ROCK ISLAND
FIELD.


A broken wheel and a demolish-
ed propeller were the toll Of a
slight accident which caused an
extra hours delay to Captain
Felix Steinle at Rock Island field
this afternoon.
| Swinging over Rock Island field
at 1885 this afternoon, the cap
tain, westbound. turned his ma
chine slightly TO the left as the
plane was sliding onto the ground.
This caused the left wheel 10 bury
in the ground and the tail OF the
machine bounded up, crowding the
propeller into the ground, break
ing It, and demolishing the left
| wheel
The airman left at 2;23, resum-
ing his fight west, the accident re-
quiring an additional hour layover
while a new wheel and a new pro-
peller were placed on the machine.
Martin Bomber Arrives.
Ship No. 19, a Martin bomber
equipped with two 400-horBepower
Liberty motors, westbound, ar
rived here from the east at 1900
D. m. The plane was piloted by
Captain Roy N. Francis and car
ried as passengers Major W. II.
/ Saunders, Captain L. N. Kee6iing,
and Sergeant Manual F. Rosa, the
| latter Of the French army.
The bomber is the largest ma
| chine which has reached Rock Is
| land field and it thrilled the large
| crowd at the grounds as it grace
| fully lighted and TAXED across the
field to a stop. The plane is brand
new and has a natural wood finish.
! Sergeant Rosa, who saw active SER
vice in the French air service, does
not speak English, but an Argus
representative who was overseas
| for more than a year and knows
/ what It means to be among
| strangers who speak a strange Ian
guage, dropped into conversation
with him and the two parle1-
vous-ed together for several min
utes. The French man admitted
that the Martin bomber is "a Won
derful ship"
Lieutenant D. B. Gish, No. 10,
westbound. arrived at Rock Island
! field at 1910, noon, and left at
il:O1. Lieutenant Gish flew Ia the
1S5th night pursuit squadron over
| seas. He was injured IN an ncci-
| dent at night while in France, when
| his machine crashed. and he sus-
| tanned 10 very severe injuries, in
I! Guiding both legs being mangled
one being broken in IA different
places, and in four on the other.
| Lieutenant Gish still wears steel
/ braces on each leg, but continues
to fly. His passenger, Captain de
| Lavergne, is the French air at
tache at Washington. During the
recent war Captain de Lavergne
was in command OF a squadron on
| the French front, and at one timo
| had under his command 20 Ameri-
can aviators. He has many dec
orations.
Major ]. w. Simmons, ship No.
10, arrived from Chicago at 1928
and left at 1:13 for the west. Ship
No. Al. piloted by Lieutenant R. @.
! Fitzpatrick, lighted at 1871 and
minute later Major Henry Abbey
swooped down on the field In ship
! No. z. Both pilots are west bound.
Leaders in Dispute.
According to the record IA Cap
| tain Smiths log book he has beaten
| Lieutenant Maynard in the trans
] COuhlntIilhl lhLGs A1hpLhAu DAAAttAA .
| figures show that he few from San
/ Francisco to Mineola in "a hours,
80 minutes flying time. as against
| Lieutenant Maynard's "a hours, 90
minutes and 4S1S seconds from
Mineola to San Francisco. Captain
| Smiths claim to be victor will have
to be officially verified before a de-
cision is made.
Weather Is Better.
Clear. cold weather with moder-
ate winds was reported from most
| of the control stations with the eX-
! ception of those in Nebraska, where
/ foggy weather interfered with the
schedules OF several Of the flyers.
Captain Lowell II. Smith, who
arrived at Mineola at 1850 a. m.
today, was the third flyer TO COM
plete the first half Of the trip from
San Francisco. Ee left Rochester
at 7:4O a. m. and made the trip TO
Mineola in what is believed to be
record time,
Captain Harry Drayton left Reno
| headed for San Francisco early I'M
| the day with the indications that
he would be the second flyer to fn-
tish the frst half OF the trans-oonti-
mental trip among the westbound
contingent.
Colonel Hartney War Hero.
| Lieutenant Colonel Hartney. pi-