The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-08-23
WESTINGHOUSE.
LE]|'T|T':E:R,M
BY RODNEY BUTCHER

Washington, Aug. 23.-They do
say that aviation is safer than motor
| ing, but some o4 Us always will pre-
fer the family flivver.
Despite progress, no one will be
able to take the thrills out Of flying
imm cdiately and meanwhile come
sucn halr. raising tales as that of the
Army's twin-motored Martin bombel
which crashed in the water Of Pearl
harbor, 1nawaii, June ~. A full nc.
count 81 the incident, with none Of
the thrills left out, has just reached
the Army Air Corps.
The plane was member OF five
ship formation which took. off early
in the morning, piloted by Lieut..
GEORGE ". Polk, Jr., and manned by
Staff Sergeant Monroy and Privates
Cyr and Valentine. Army mancuvcrs
were in progress and the formation
was to stimulate q bomb attack in
northern OAhu.
Hardly was he. we'll in the air be-
fore Lieut.. Polk discovered that his
landing gear was. damsged-fouT
bolts connecting . strut, to : wheel
had shcared off.
Polk dropped q message asking for
four new bolts. Lieut.. J. y. Glvens
and Philip Schneeberger took off in
a De Haviland with the supplies and
picked up the bombing formation.
They dropped the supplies on the
end Of rope 70 one Of the planes
and then learned it was the wrong
the package attached, but the fastcn-
ing broke under the strain, and the
bolts and rope were lost.
fSivnnu lunAnA oe I.1,kA Et0lA Pr
more supplies and q better identifi-
cation Of the disabled plane. Polk,
meanwhile, had completed his tactical
mission. Givens located him and
lowered the rope, but it developed
that the men in forward and rear
cockpits couldn't get the package,
as they were recruits taking first
ride and unfamiliar with air work.
Schnecberger climbed out on 4
wing, despite his slippery soled shoes
and Sergt. .Monroy Of the bomber
walked out on the adjacent wing Of
Folks plane.
The two pilots finally Unanswered
their planes within arm's length and
the supplies were transferred!
As he returned to his seat, Schnee.
bergcr's parathutef opened and he
narrowly escaped being pulled off the
plane and fouiing the tail surfaces.
At 5000 or 10000 feet in the air,
Monroy climbed down to the bomb.
er's. landing gear and in an almost
impossible position amid wind
stream Of 80 miles an hour endeav.
ored, with Private Cyr, to repair the
gear. They had to discard their
parachutes and slip. meant certain
death. -
At noon they had to give up the
repairing attempt. Polk decided to
land in the water. As he flew over
the field to drop the parachutes in
order to prevent them from being
spoiled by salt water. one, Of the
chutes caught In the propeller Of the
left motor, stepping It forathe rest Of
the flirht. ~. ..ft, y .sd ,fa 4'f@
. The four flyers were in q bad way.
They were flying dowhwind. and a
30.mile wind added to the ground
speed. Losing altitude every second
because Of the loss. Of one . motor,
Polk had to: put his ship down at
great speed in narrow, strip Of
water before he. was carried into =
tree-covercd peninsula where land
ing almost certainlytwon1 have been
fatal. sa sg'
The bomber hit the water with
terrific sock and : turned turtle.
Army and navy boats put out to the
rescue and found that, Lieut.. Polk and
his men had experienced nothing
worse than a duckin4. 800