Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-28
BY f.. G.. KOHN,

years mythical organization
now promises to emerge from
Il the field of mythology to that
of a live and functioning So
ciety, with officers and rules and club
dues. Its membership, now but 54
will always remain more exclusive
than that of the United safes Senate
though it will never have applicants
for membership.
The requirements, the highest OF
any organization ever in existence
will always be the same, for to be
eligible one must practically lose ones
life. then regain it. To qualify, a
flyer must have saved his life by a
forced emergency jump from an air.
plane in flight by means of para
chute made Of the finest silk-a prod
uct coming from the lowly caterpillar
cocoon. For that reason the club is
called the Caterpillar Club.
AS it now stands, the organization
simply consists of the collection of
data in regard to emergency para
chute jumps, with a short statement
regarding the circumstances and pic
ture of the person saved. These are
mounted in the Caterpillar album kept
at McCook Field, and no other formal
ity, except an occasional press notice,
is INDUCED in. Some Of the members
have made more than one jump,
Lieut.. Frank CD. Hunter and Lieut..
Eugene II. Barksdale, deceased. hav-
ing jumped twice and Col. Charles A.
Lindbergh four times.
The first Caterpillar and the founder
OF the club was Lieut.. II. r. Harris,
who demonstrated for the first time in
aviation history the successful use Of
the parachute.
A two-time member of the club is
Lieut.. Frank Cd. Hunter. In his
second jump the lieutenant lost his
mustache when his plane caught fire.
The water, ice and mud Of Lake st.
Clair claimed his plane, while his
mustache went up in smoke. Lieut..
Hunter was forced to jump from his
ship when it burst into flames just as
he had joined the early morning for
nation. His parachute opened imme-
diately, and he landed on the ice about
500 feet from his plane, which had
spun into the lake at an angle of
about as degrees, the engine going
through 10 inches of ice and into
three feet Of water and mud. The
plane burst into flames at about 500
feet altitude. Lieut.. Hunter jumped
at 500 feet.
about $780," said Lieut.. Hunter, st
took off to join the regular daily for
uldClOIlt WHICH was dlISduy Ill LIlo dlE
just east Of the field. Climbing to
about 1900 feet, I had just dived into
place in my element when I noticed
smoke pouring from beneath the en-
CINE cowling. Immediately I fell out
OF formation and put my plane in a
dive for the ground.
LAS I started my dive the increased
speed Of my ship through the air
forced the fire and smoke up into the
cockpit, burning my face and clothing
and clouding my goggles SO that /
could not see. l unbuckled my safety
belt and plunged head down over the
side of the cockpit. I don't think
had more than 600 feet altitude at the
time; at least, 1 know my jump was
no record. Still. it doesn't matter, for
my chute opened Immediately and
fioated serenely down through the
cold, clear air while watched my
flaming plane spin downward.
skidded along for few feet until I
got the chute out of the wind.
about 500 feet to the east I saw
what was left of my plane. A part
Of the tail stuck out of a great ragged
hole in the ice where the engine had
broken through"
T asst year the only flyer who then
- had the opportunity TO become a
three.time member of the club met his
death. He was Lieut.. +. II. Banks
dale, head of the test flight section of
McCook Field, an ace in the war and
admired throughout the Air Service.
On two previous occasions when his
plane crashed Lieut.. Barksdale came
safely to earth in a parachute.
Last August he was testing Doug
las transport known to be treacherous
in a spin. Yet he deliberately put it
into a spin while Assistant Secretary
Of War L. Trubee Dawson looked on.
What followed, officers at the field
saw, was one of the most peculiar
spins ever witnessed. The ship did
not nose down. Instead it began to
rotate in a fiat spin on even keel.
This made Lieut.. Barksdale the pivot,
the center of the eddy. He tried in
vain to get free of the ship. Eventu.
ally he jumped and pulled his rip
cord, but the parachute tangled hope
lessly in the plane and he was killed.
Charles A Lindbergh is the only
four-time member of the Caterpillar
Club. Lindbergh's fourth and last
jump to date occurred not far from
the scene of his third jump and under
similar circumstances. Taking OH
from Lambert Field at 4:20 pm. with
the Chicago mail. he made a five-nin'
ute stop at Springfield, ILL.,, and
headed for Peoria.
At st. Louis early in the afternoon
It was found that weather conditions
were favorable for flying. But with
the increasing darkness of late Au
tumn afternoon the weather condi'
lions changed. The ceiling lowered to
some 400 feet and light snow set in
The lights over Peoria were indistinct
and could barely be seen even from
an altitude Of $50 feet.
For 80 minutes he ciroled over
sln- daalSeA tn M To Ch{