The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-12-05
u NEA SerUice

DIFFICULTY in following the
- dangerous airmail course is
only part of the troubles of the air
mail pilots who must keep the mail
moving day and night.
Motor trouble over the mountains
is what they fear most; that and
the treacherous line storms which
sweep over the east. Sometimes
there are other dangers they know
nothing Of.
One of the greatest pieces of good
luck Wesley L. Smith, veteran mail
pilot and now superintendent Of the
eastern division of the National Air
Transport Company, ever had was
on July 6, 1921, while flying west
from New York.
The weather ahead was thick as
soup and for three hours he flew
blindly through it. After that the
fog broke and he could see below
heavily wooded territory, without
a sign Of habitation. He knew he
was north of his course.
Just Misses Dynamite
Striking south for fifteen minutes
he finally espied a field which
looked safe for landing, lost it sew
eral times in the fog and then
brought his plane down, ripping
through a field of barley. He found
he was in the first clearing west OF
the Bellefonte, Pa, field.
"As 1 took off again a farmer came
running from house." Smith re-
called. He waved at me. thought
he was worried about his crops, so
1 kept going.
1.-THE next day or so we had
letter at the field in which the
farmer complained that his barley
had been damaged and asked for
settlement.
80 the next Sunday I flew over
to his clearing with one of the Off
Gals of the field.
Missed Dynamite in Stump
"As we came down for a landing
I could see his barley had straight
ened up again and had suffered
little, if any, damage. The farmer
greeted us as we landed.
"'Your barley doesn't look as if
it had suffered much damage
told him. He admitted it.
"'I wasn't worried so much about
hor IAn
Then he took us out to the field
and pointed to a stump, hidden
away among the tall stalks.
"'There are three sticks of dyna-
mite in that stump he told me. I
was getting ready to blow it up.
When you took off the other day
you missed it by about six inches
Stalls Over Mountains
On another occasion, while try
ing to squeeze his plane between
the mountain tops and the low
hanging clouds the Liberty motor
in Smiths plane quit with a
stripped gear just as he was pass
ing over Snoeshoe mountain, the
first high peak west of Bellefonte.
AS luck would have it, there was
clearing. free of trees but filled
with brush, just below Smith pan
caked down. His landing gear
missed the trees and ripped through
the brush. The plane came to a
grinding stop against a stump he
hadn't seen.
1.-THE plane was such a complete
wreck I had to chop out the mail
with an ak, but I wasn't scratched"
Smith explained.
Snowstorrns like the November
one which cost the lives of two air
mail pilots and the pilot of a pas
Senger plane and two passengers
riding with him are one of the worst
dangers the airmal pilots have TO
contend with
Recently with the installation of
almost instantaneous weather re-
porting service, pilots know the sort
of weather they face as they take
off for their flights. But several
years ago, when the pilots had only
the barest weather protection,
things were different.
NEXT: Battling ice in the clouds.