Evening star., 1925-07-05
AIR SHOW FEATURE
! us PURSUIT EVENT
! Variety Marks Defense Pro-
gram by Army Service at
Boiling Field.

Military aircraft of the Army Ali
Service in its three branches-pursuit
observation and bombardment-ma
q vivid impression on thousands OF
persons who witnessed the air defense
program given yesterday afternoon at
Boiling Field under the direction OF
the District of Washington.
OF these three, pursuit aviation ex
emplified by three Curtiss PW8 fight.
ing ships from the First Pursuit
Group at Selfridge Field. Mt Glenn.
ems, Mich, astounded the spectators
with their almost unbelievable dem
onstration of speed and maneuver-
! ability, and proved their importance
. in the scheme of defense.
The two-hour exhibition, however
was not held down to bedrock mill
tary strategy and tactics. For in.
stance, two experienced parachute
jumpers from the Parachute School
at Chanute Field, Rentoul, H., sent a
chill over the crowd when they
jumped from two De Haviland air
planes 1900 feet over the field, and
floated heIplessly down into tee East
ern Branch of the Potomac River close
to the seawall of the Naval Air Sta
tion at Anacostia.
Everybody thought they would
drown and the captains gig of the
station put out to pick them up be-
fore they were borne down by their
heavy flying suits, parachute harness
and the 'chutes themselves. They
were fiShed out of the water and
brought back to the field in the Army
ambulance amid the plaudits of the
kcrowd.
Joke on the Crowd
But the joke was on the crowd as
far as drowning was concerned Lieut.
| Talcott P. Smith, an old Boiling pilot,
but now at the Illinois Field, who
carried One of the jumpers aloft, said
on landing he saw them fall in the
water, but they could float there all
week, as they wore kapock suits
Sergt. D. F.. Allan, one of the jumpers,
was carried aloft by Lieut.. Smith, and
Lieut.. j. N. Fitzmaurice flew Private
Jack Harris to the jumping-of spot
There was an entertaining feature
In sausage" balloon moored at the
south end of the field, which persisted
IN standing on its head, looping, roll
ing and, in fact, emulating one of the
fast PW8s.
Maj. J. n. Jouett, the announcer,
and in charge of balloon work in
3 France during the war, pronounced
It the most acrobatic balloon ever
saw" and added, IF all balloons were
like that, we'd never get anybody to
go up in them" The reason for It's
vacillating policy was the lack of com
plete or sufficient imitation, and the
rather stiff south wind tossed il about
at will.
. Under the penetrating simulated
machine gun fire of the PWss, the
old sausage finally exploded and, con-
verted into a mass of flames, dropped
rapidly TO earth, leaving a long pill
lar of black smoke in its wake.
The pursuit ships could not use
bullets in their attack on the balloon
because of the thickly populated sec
ton surrounding the field, but under
the direction of Lieut.. Frank OD.
Hunter, a famous war pilot, they GER
tainly convinced the spectators that
they could do the work. The other
pilots of the PW's were Lieut.. Law
son II. Sanderson, u. S. NJ. c.. star
end on the famous Quantico foot ball
team, and Lieut.. H. J. Norton, also of
the Marines. These two officers, for
merly on duty here and at Quantico,
are taking pursuit training at Self
ridge Field. Lieut.. Hunter, with
seven Germans to his credit, led the
two Marines through a merry chase
of rapid maneuvers and stunts. This
event on the program easily was the
outstanding feature of the day.
Beautiful Formation.
Ranking second was the perform
ance of five antiquated "Jennies'-
wartime training ships-f1own from
Logan Field, Baltimore, under the
leadership of Maj. William D. Upton,
Reserve Corps. a Washington CORE
spondent to the Baltimore Evening
Sun. These five ships, all of the
Maryland National Guard, few one
of the most beautiful formations ever
seen at the field and on conclusion of
their part in the program, they were
congratulated by Maj Gen. John l..
II mes, chief of staff Then they
cranked up their crates" and showed
off for Baltimore.
During the earlier part of the pro-
gram, a free balloon carving Lieut.
Col Ira F'ravel, Lieut.. Harry G. Mont
gomery and Lieut.. LeClatr D. Schulze
took off and had not been heard from
last night. Other events on the pro-
gram was a formation of De Haviland
observation planes flown by Maj. Carl
Spatz and Capts. r. G. Hoyt, Robert
Oldys, Donald Wilson and Ralph H.
Wooten. The five ships executed the
various formation flying maneuvers
without break, and won the admira-
ton of the audience.
Lieuts. Edwin r. McReynolds and
Harry A. Halverson, assigned to
chase meteorological pilot balloons
and burst them with their propelIors,
took off in Voughts, but had little
luck with the balloons as the wind
soon blew them out of their reach
They stunted about the sky for
a while, the whine of the wind
through their wires as they looped
drawing the attention of the crowd.
Village Is ObIiterated.
-. Three Martin bombers of Langley
Field, Va, made two passes at an
enemy village at the south end of
the held, completely obliterating it
On the second attack
The bomberS were flown by Capt
Henry Pascale and Lieuts. Wilson
SPECIAL NOTICES.
WANTED TO HAUL FULL OR PART LOAD
TO OR FROM NEW YORK OR WASH
ROSFTON n