San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-04-24


began stunning.
Lieut.. A. c. Strickland thrilled the
crowds with numerous perfect repeti-
tons of the Immelman turn in an
NIB pursuit plane, the army's fast
est flying ship. Two other MB-3s.
piloted by Lieut.. J. s. Griffith and
Lieut.. o. r. Cook. also we're stunted.
Stunted in Spads.
Lieuts. X. G. Breene. W. b. Nc
Coy and ID. w. Watkins stunted in
three TW-5 planes while four "Spads'
performed in another part of the field.
The s. p. A. DIS were piloted BY
Lieut.. T. Griffls and Sergts. r. X.
Newcomb. r. J.. Mitchell. c. +. Colby.
The Spads stunted at 1000 feet alti-
tude.
Lieuts. A. C. Strickland, o. II.
Cook and H. NJ. Wittkop flew I'M
stunt formation for some time.
This aerial act was followed by an
entertaining sport, that of breaking
toy balloons in the air by flying head
on into them as they floated in the
air. Lieuts. A. c. Strickland. ]. B.
Haddon and J. s. Griffith took part
In this stunt.
Lieut.. w. r. Peck. flying in a.
plane piloted by Lieut.. r. B. Walker,
laid down a smoke screen in spite of
steady wind which soon blew it
away.
Spells Out "Army."
Lieut.. H. I. Mccormick reached n
high altitude and did some sky writ
ing for the craning multitude, spelling
out the word army"
One of the most impressive parts
of the program was an aerial parade
in which ~ planes, valued at $4OO,OW
and flown by pilots valued by Uncle
Sam at $2,000,000, took part. Only
one mishap occurred in the review of
all the planes when one of the De-
Havilands failed to take off. Another
dropped voluntarily from the same
formation in order to preserve its
"" shape with an odd number of
planes. seven having been scheduled
to take part.
Eleven types Of flying ships were
represented in this huge review which
passed three times in front of the
judging stand.
Narrow Escape for Jumper.
The fact that Lieut.. Wilfred Bot
tomfield, ORC, endeavored TO thrill
the crowds by descending to the
ground from an airplane in five sep
| arate parachutes probably saved his
| life, for the first silken bag failed to
open for him and he had to cut loose
from it and rely on the second one
to reach earth unhurt.
Lieutenant Bottomfield attempted
the dead drop type of parachute jump
with five parachutes tied on his back.
He dropped from the flying plane and
pulled the rip cord Of the first para
chute. 1t had scarcely opened when
the shock of checking Lieutenant Bot
tomfield's body weight as it plunged
earthward caused the silken umbrella
| to rip.
Lieutenant Bottomfield jumped
from an altitude of over $500 feet
| and he declared afterward that he
dropped fully 1900 feet before being
able to sever the shroud lines of the
useless first parachute which became
entangled in his legs.
Some Thought Him Hurt.
He succeeded in doing this, how
ever. at an altitude of approximately
1000 feet and descended safely in the
second parachute. The ambulance
reached the jumper almost at the time
of his impact with the earth but he
was standing up and smiling when it
reached him. An examination Of the
| first parachute showed that the shrollJ
lines had become knotted and caused
it to descend slowly, giving it the ap-
pearance of bearing the body of a
man. Hundreds of the spectators were
under the impression that the frs.
crippled parachute descending rapidly
with the knot at the end of the shroud
lines was the one to which Lieutenant
Bottomfield was clinging.
Four other parachute jumps were
made during the day, one of these was
by veteran and another by novice.
The veteran was Corp. c. +. Conrad.
holder of the worlds record of 21,000
feet. set in a recent leap at Kelly
Field, and the novice was Sergt. q. 4.
Davidson. who dived for the first time
Wednesday. Pvt. J. NJ. Loge made the
first jump of the day and Sergt. Il.
w. Bottriell also leaped. All of the
parachute jumpers leaped from planes
| piloted by Lieut.. j. G. Taylor who
| WAS annoiuted FOR TINT ,urnoSp