New Britain herald., 1928-09-13

Thrills but no serious mishapS
marked the start OF the race, tribute
to the experienced pilots who had to
buck bad air and cross wind to get
their heavily loaded planes of the
ground.
Lieut.. Commander Iseman averted
what appeared to be certain
tragedy by jerking the Columbia
sharply TO one side when photo
gr2pner ran into its path as it was
taking off. The right wheel col
lapsed and the plane made ground
loop and seemed about to turn over
but he righted it. A new wheel was
quickly put on the plane and he
made Il second and successful start.
Mcmillan and Manner both mar
rowly averted crashes in taking OIL
the later being forced to return to
the starting line and take second
run. Page found his fuel load too
heavy and returned to the field. He
had dumped his main tank and
when he reloaded took 20 gallons
less.
A large crowd. mostly women.
was at the field to watch the take
Offs and taxed the tempers OF the
officials in attempting to keep them
off the field.
The crowd showed the most in
and Col. Thaw. The Yankee Doodle
was the one in which Goebel and
his financial hacker. Harry Tucker.
recently set record OF IS hours
and IS minutes in flying from Los
Angeles to New York.
Suicide Ship
Thaw's plane, powered with $50
horsepower Hornet motor. is the
most powerful in the race but Is
called the suicide ship" because OF
the small passengers seat in which
the huge colonel had to squeeze
himself Other fiers say that II the
plane gets in trouble it will be al
most impossible for Thaw to free
himself in time to keep from going
down with the plane. He laguhed
off their fears. however. I'm big
and I'll bounce" he said
The colonel, one of the aces of
the famous flying squadron of
Americans which fought with the
French forces and whose ranks
were sadly depleted by the fortunes
OF war, showed no concern as he
nj nd
ris to give her the gun"
The winner OF the race will have
to make close to Is hours, fiiers be-
lieve. as Goebel has demonstrated
that such a time is possible under
good conditions.
Los Angeles. Sept. 13 up - The
array OF fliers assembled here for
keyed today for the shows climax
finish of the nonstop transconti-
mental race from Roosevelt field,
where nine planes hoped yester-
day. The nonstop flight was the
last of the five long derbies of the
nNe-day program.
Six of the starters presumably
had passed the midway mark and
were nearing the finish line at an
early hour today. Three others were
forced out with motor trouble, two
of the ships landing at intermediate
points. and another returning to the
starting field.
A record crowd was expected to
be In the grandstands at Mines
field this afternoon when the first
of the non-stoppers was due.
Hopes of the west were pinned
on Art Goebel and his huge Lock-
heed-Vega monoplane. Yankee
| Doodle" back-tracking on the trail
he blazed to a new transcontinenta
nonstop record few weeks ago.
Goebel, favorite of the long
derby. whirled over the course from
Los Angeles to New York in Is
hours and So minutes with healthy
wind at his ships tail. The short
cut which he claimed he found on
the eastern journey was kept to
himself for use in the return flight
in which he hoped to claim first
prize money of the 322,5O0 cash
prizes posted. Four planes. IL that
many finish, will share in the prizes.
Won Dole Derby
The course record holder cap
tured the hearts of his native Cali
fornians in August. 1927. when he
flew to victory in the Dole air race
from Oakland to Honolulu.
Other soft spots in the hearts of
those watching the mountainous
eastern skyline existed for the
northwestern hawks" Nick Manner,
pilot and C. A. Paulsen, co-pilot of
the Bull sesquiplane Spirit of Spo-
Kane" named in honor of their
home city in Washington.
Although John P. Morris, pilot,
and Col. William Thaw II. are from
Pittsburgh, Pa, their Los Angeles
built plane, Lockheed-Vega made
them known to westerners.
Other fliers less known to the Pa
cific coast were Emil Burgin of
Mineola, N. Y. and Captain l.. A.
Yancy of New York. in a Bellanca
Whirlwind. and Lieut.. Jack Iseman.
commandant of the Rockaway
Beach. N. Y. naval air station. in
the Bellanca Columbia. George
Haldeman of Detroit plotting a
Bellanca in the race. was watched
because of his exploit as Ruth Ell
der's pilot in her attempted trans
atlantic hop.
Protests Are Filed
With the Class B and c trans
continental flights the international
race from Windsor Ont. and a
short coast sprint ended at Mines
field yesterday, protests filed by
some pilots competing cast doubts
on who would be awarded the prizes