The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-06-12
SUNDAY, JUNE -. 1921.
In Time Gravity Gets Them.

with the knowledge OF aVlaIlon
we now have" said LINCOLN BEAcHEY
in February, 1914, there remains
no danger" Less than a year later
this greatest of American stunt fiers
was killed while attempting to make
simple glide.
II am very conservative pilot,
said Lieutenant LoCKLEAR, who TOOK
BEAcHEY's place in the circuses OF the
sky. He leaped into fame only two
years ago. Last August he was
killed by fall of 200 feet.
Miss HARRIET QUIMBY, the first of
our women fiiers, won her earliest
glory in 1911. She became star
exhibition flier. Aviation" she de-
clared, "is the easiest thing in the
world" She was killed before she
had worn her laurels year.
Captain JOHN ALcocK, who made
his name immortal by flying across
the Atlantic in one hop two years
ago this month, performing in per-
feet safety the most terrible journey
man has ever made, was killed
eighteen months later while on his
leisurely way to an exhibition ground
in France.
So the death of Miss LAURA BRoM-
WELL last week is a reminder OF that
which the sad record of exhibition
fiiers makes evident. Man may call
himself the master Of the air, but he
cannot yet keep his slave in com
plete subsection.
It is not the exhibition aviator
alone who seems certain of death If
he keeps on flying year after year.
OF the five pilots we have mentioned,
all but Miss BRoMwELL fell while do
ing the commonplace. Their TRACE
dies were not caused by skill or nerve
failing. Each was killed through
some mechanical fault which has
since been obviated, or will be.
The peril attends all who fly. The
list of experienced aviators who have
been killed in the last ten years
would fill column after column of this
paper. 1t has been a saying that
everybody has friend killed in au-
tomobiling. That saying may almost
apply to aviation. Many men of ma
tional renown have been victims of
aerial accident-JoHN PURRoY MIR
cHEL, "Hobey" BAKER of Princeton
fame, BLAIR THAw, ARCHIE MITCHELL
and AMOS G.. BATcHELDER are but a
few of the familiar names.
In the war the American flying
forces lost two men by accident for
every one that was killed in battle
Nineteen men of the air mail service
we're killed last year. Some Of these
10 be sure. were particularly the vic
Tins of badly conducted Post Office
Department, they having been sent
but in machines the defects Of which
should have been discovered; but
there were others who succumbed tC
he common faults of all aircraft.
Sometimes the flier becomes III
or loses control More often his en-
CINE stalls, or a wing breaks. or he
runs into "a hole in the air" The
fuel, the motor, the propeller, the
body, the planes-each is capable OF
Unexpected weakness. A moment OF
this weakness is enough for Gravity
that friend of earthlings and foe OF
aerial creatures. Gravity has no mo
ments of weakness. 1t is e. nally
ready for the encounter.
How long will aviation continue tc
have all these perils? That is up tc
science. It must be remembered now
when the list of deaths is discourag
ingly long and when it seems that
every fiier OF to-day will be killed II
he sticks at flying, that flying is
young. 1t Is, as General MITCHELL
of the United States Army Air Ser
vice says in his recent book, "Our
Air Force" a new and developing
art. He adds that il is Still expen
sive and somewhat dangerous"
The expensiveness is trivial as com
pared with the danger. Safety is the
great desideratum in aerial science
Place already have speed greater
than the wind. Their strength is
sufficient to most needs OF peace and
war. But they kill our fliers. Not
only do they destroy brave men whose
value to this country, whether in
peace or war, is great, but they keer
good men out Of flying. How many
Of the Americans who flew in France
still make aviation their business
RroKENBAcKER is the only one tnat
the public will recall. These Ameri
can pilots were second to none in
courage, but as soon as their country