The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-22

the lady over Pensacola.
Just after the ship had left the
field and was about 200 feet high
over the bay, the motor "reved''
down to about 500 I banked
around in an attempt to get back
to the field, but lacked by about fiji
teen feet enough altitude to reach
it and was forced to land in the
sand hills less than hundred feet
from the edge of the flying field.
The first hill wiped off my land
ing gear and one wheel went up
through the front spar on the lower
left wing, breaking it off about two
feet from the fuselage.
A quick survey of the plane
showed that we would require a
new landing gear and propeller in
addition to the material required
to splice the spar.
The Navy hauled the plane into
one of its large dirigible hangers
and allowed us to make use of its
equipment in repairing the damage.
We purchased a spare landing
gear and a propeller. then built a
box frame around the broken spar
and, after gluing all the joints,
screwed it into position and wound
the splice with strong cord, which
was then shrunk tight by several
coats of dope.
In this way the splice was made
stronger than the original spar had
been.
When we were not working on
the ship we made several trips to
the old Spanish forts which pro-
tected the city during the days
when Florida still belonged to Spain.
These are in an excellent state of
preservation and contain number
of paSSagewayS, one of which is
supposed to lead underground be-
tween the two Notifications, but al
though we searched carefully for
the opening to this tunnel we never
found it.
In all we spent about a week re-
pairing the plane, and when it was
ready to fly once more tested it
with an Irving parachute borrowed
from one of the officers of the
station.
That was the first service type of
chute I had ever worn and I expert
enced the unique feeling of not car
ing particularly whether the ship
held together during the tests or not.
1 put that Canuck through ma
neuvers which I would never have
dreamed of doing with it before, yet
with the confidence OF absolute
safety.
The advent Of the service para
chute was a tremendous step for
ward in the advance o. aviation.
1t gave the test pilot safe means
of escape in most cases when all
else had failed.
1t permitted formations to fly
closer in comparative safety, and,
in short, allowed fliers to learn
more about their planes than ever
before.
All this contributed to the ever
increasing knowledge of practical
flying which makes possible, the
safety of present air commerce.
The airplane parachute has de-
veloped with the rapidity of the
planes themselves. For years
descents with 'chutes we're made
from balloons, but the first jump
from a plane was by Captain Berry
at st. Louis, Missouri, in 1912.
His parachute was comparatively
crude affair and of no use in All
emergency. Ten years later service
type parachutes had been perfected
which were strong enough to stand
any strain the weight of mans
body falling through the air could
place on them, no matter how many
thousand feet he fell before releas-
ing the parachute from its pack;
and today, fifteen years after
Captain Berry made the first jump
from an airplane, every army and
air mail pilot is required to wear
a parachute.
The test flight over we dashed
a five gallon can of gasoline on each
wing and followed along the Gulf
of Mexico to Pascagoula, Mississippi.
There was a small crack half way
down the back of the Canuck's gas
oline tank and when the gas no
longer oozed out through the crack
We knew that the tank was half
empty.
By carrying the two gas cans we
obtained an extra hours cruising