The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-10-28
CUT CAPtRS IN AIR
Filters Produce Some Real
Thrills, All Right
PULLED THEBIG STUNTS
Death Defyed BY Wing Walker;
Show Friday and
Saturday

The aerial circus OF the Veteran
Filters is on. The first gun was fired
this morning in the local carnival
when Pilot Harry Crewdson took the
air, under unfavorable weather condl-
tions, for a stunt flight with George
Comet" Wright as passenger. Inc
plane rose from the field on the Rlst
farm on the New Ulm road and cir
cled over the business district snort
time before the thriliers were uncork-
ed. Only q part Of the regular stunt
program was pulled this morning on
account of bad weather but IN an Ell
fort to give slghtseers all that is com
| ing to them, the Comet" showed his
first wing walking in Mankato. This
feature was not on the cards and was
surprise to spectators who expected
that only the stunts would be shown in
Merchants Open Sales. ~
simultaneously with the flight local
merchants began the biggest three
day sales event that has ever been,
known to the much abused ultimate
consumer. Prices are level with the
year before the war and whole stocks
prices will continue for all three days
without interruption. In the flight
this morning tickets bearing numbers
were thrown out of the ship and IN the
bunch released there were q large
number of tickets that were duplicat-
ed in the lads" OF the merchants In
Mondays edition of The Free Press.
in that edition are good for merchan-
disc at the stores in whose lads" the
number appeared There are no quail
| ifications to their value and all the
finder needs do is step into the store
after he has the number and get his
goods.
Real Wing Walker.
In this mornings flight, clouds
! were so low that at times the big
ship was almost obscured by the
| mists but in spite of that Pilot
| Crewdson rolled his plane around In
great style. The diminutive George
Comet" Wright Is a real wing walk
er and displayed his wares over the
city. At terrific rate of speed he
Mankato journey and on the return
fight he climbed all over the ship
1t was more Of an act than people
expected much more than was sched-
uled for the morning session.
The fiiers will perform Friday and
Saturday. There should be large
crowds of spectators to look up the
! dare Q6VllS.
The wing walking this afternoon and
the parachute jump which followed
were aerial thrillers of the highest Or
der. Promptly at the scheduled time
the plane took the air with Pilot
Crewdson at the controls and George
Comet" Wright in the passenger pit
heady for his job. In the seat with
the Comet" was Mrs. Wright who
saw/her husband do his work from the
| rlane. Several times Mrs. Wright has
seen her husband perform from the
ground but never from such close
/ range as today. Before the start she
said that 1t was not probable that che
would get to. see much as she nearly
always shuts her eyes when she Is on
the. ground TO watch her husbands
antics. ~ .
| = Crewdson Tells Stories
To-day Harry Crewdson, said to be
the silent man Of the air game, loos-
ened up long enough to tell some OF
his experiences in the flying game
when II was in its first stages Of dew
elopment. He has fund of takes to
tell that are probably upequalled by
any flyer in the business. -.
Back In the very earliest days of
aviation Pilot Crewdson was employed
| In an Office In q building that faced
! Michigan Avenue In Chicago and from
that vantage point saw the planes and
| flyers almost Dolly Rs they performed
in Grant park, just opposite. The few:
| er struck him and he soon quit his job
| to take up the more adventurous life
OF an aviator.
His first flying experiences were In
| the single. seated planes where the nov
| Ice had to go into the air for himself
| on the first trip and those thereafter.
| The plan was to taxi the ship up and
down the lot couple of hours and
then with q prayer and not much else
came the time to jump into the air.
| The flyer said today that 1t was
| grand and glorious feeling to make q
safe landing and know that at least
one good flight stood to his credit,
| Called Revenue officer
The narrator told OF flight he
| made from field In Little Rock, Ark.
| where he was engaged IN the business
| of hauling passengers. He few his
| plane away from the city over and
above some mountains. When he re-
| turned he discovered that plan was
| on foot to smash his plane and hustle
| him out OF town. Some OF the resi-
dents of that community we're of the
opinion that he was a revenue officer
who had been sent there to spot iii ut
stills and there must have been lew
4 in those mountains from the amount
OF worry 1t seemed to have caused.
Crewdson Is the oldest pilot In the
game In America who has flown con-
| tinuously. There are several others
whose experience covers a greater
period of years but the man who IL
Il . y = tt : =