The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-08-09

'bt RNANtiibtti III Dtatt-tihiC hHSht7
are Hugh Gordon Campbell, Syracuse
university athlete and American ace.
who died when his airplane fell into
tile ocean at Atlantic City; Capt.
Field L. Kindiey, who was killed adr-
ing maneuvers at Kelly field. Texas;
Kenneth Earle and Maxwell Blanch-
ard. killed at Palm Beach Lieut.. Pat
Logan, who fell at Baltimore; Lieut..
James Murray Grier, formerly of the
famous Lafayette escadrille, and
Sergt. Joseph Peter SAKE, expert aerial
photographer with the A. Il. F., both
of whom were killed when their ma
chine fell. near Forest Hills during Il
championship tennis match In 1870.
Then there was also George w. Pur-
year, who fought the Germans, was
captured by them, escaped, and fought
them again. He came back safe n
sound to America and died when his
| airplane crashed down in a cotton field
in California.
Alcock and HaWker Victims.
Several years ago the eyes OF the
whole world We're directed at the bleak
eastern coast Of Newfoundland. A
prize of $4,000 had been offered to
the aviator who made the first non
stop flight across the Atlantic ocean.
and Il dozen or so B%ritishers had gath
cred there to make the attempt.
Among them was Captain Alcock,
later Sir John Alcock, a famous ace
during the war, who piloted the first
English plane that bombed CONSTANT
nope. Captain Alcock, with Il navi-
gator, Arthur w. Brown, also kniglted
later, hoped off in'June, 1919, and
astonished the universe by flying from
Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland, in
Is hours and Il minutes.
1t was just six months later that
fate overlook this intrepid aviator.
While flying in France, merely taking
a seaplane to an exhibition at Rouen,
he m~lscalculated his distance from the
earth, in a fog, and was instantly
killed when his plane struck the
ground.
One of Captain Alcock's rivals in
the transatlantic flights was an air.
Il who was equally well known
among aviators. This was Harry G.
Hawker. Hawker was the first to hop
off at Newfoundland, starting on May
Is with Lieutenant Commander Mac.
kenzie Grieve as navigator. In ain
the text day, they waited for news OF
him in England. Hawker and his com
rade and their plane had disappeared.
People said that they had been
drowned in the ocean. But those who
knew the aviator said: No; Harry
Hawker has got more lives than a cat.
If he hadn't, he would have been
killed long before this. He's the
luckiest airman that ever lived"
Sure enough, six days later a Danish
steamer, the Mary, came rolling into
port with Hawker and Grieve on
board. She had picked them up S5C
miles off the coast of Ireland, floating
along hanging to their frail craft
Hawker's luck still held.
A year later, July p, Hawker wen>
aloft neal the Hendon airdome, in Eng
land, to test "a plane for the aerial
derby. He was flying probably 400
feet up in the air when those who wer,
watching saw the plane suddenly Gu
reen and come plunging to the earth.
Hawker died in the arms of the doctor
who had been hastily summoned. A
~coroner's jury found the accident had
been due to a sudden stroke Of paral-
ysis which the airman had suffered.
His physician testified that Hawker
had long been a victim of tuberculosis
of the spine, and had been warned
against flying.
Sir Ross Smiths Death.
During the year that Captain Alcock
and Hawker were busy with their eff
forts to fly across the Atlantic, another
British aviator sprang into promi-
nence by plotting a plane from Eng
land to Australia. 1t was Ross Smith,
later Sir Ross Smith, who had a gal
liant record for daring during the war
A few months ago, Sir Ross and his
brother, Sir Keith Smith. were get
ting ready to fly around the world.
They had completed their planes and
the feat seemed almost accomplished.
Early one morning Sir Ross arrived at
B%rooklands where his machine was.
His brother was not at the field, and
he went up with Lieutenant Bennett,
a friend of his. At a height of 3.0OO
feet above the ground the airman be-
gan a series of evoiutions that he had
gone through Il hundred times In order
to test thoroughly every strut and guy
in his plane. Those watching were in.
terested, but not alarmed, and when
they saw the huge plane diving
straight for the earth they only con-
sidered 1t a special sort of trial. Sir
Ross\was killed instantly and Lfeuten-
ant Bennett lived but a few moments
after being put into an ambulance.
And so the list continues. There
was Capt. A. G. Resnati, the Italian
aviator, who was killed when a Cap
roni plane collapsed at Mlneola. There
were thet Frenchmen, Vedrines, who
accomplished the feat of landing on a
roof in his plane, who won a number
of aerial trophies for speed and alti-
tude, and who finally fell while flying
from Paris to Rome, and Gabriel Noi-
sin, the famous ace. who was killed
while trying to fly his plane low to
enable him to shout to his br%other-in-
law that he would be home for dinner.
Aviators are asking each other what
is the answer to it all. Is a man who
has come unframed through exception
al peril apt to pay too little heed to
lesser dangers? Is it, after all, just a