Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-05
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON,
Aviation Editor of The Star

Mud. -sluiced and bury Cog
giles, singing cold rain, fog, storm
shredded clouds, a straining to locate
planes in the same formation and to
keep track of other formations above,
below, and lost in the fog and rain in
front, in back and to the sides; an
occasional blurred and hurried glimpse
of minute marching hosts on Pennsyl-
vania avenue and of stands covered with
vari-colored umbrellas-these were the
impressions of the first Inauguration
day aerial parade received by the men
who took part in the unique flight.
1t was a miserable flying day and
the pilots of the Army and Navy planes
faced the most trying obstacles in stag
ing the parade and review before their
new Commander-in-ch chief. 1t was the
first of what probably will be an
increasingly important event OF the
uuadrennial inauguration day.
The writer was a passenger IN a
Douglas o. Army observation plane,
piloted by Capt. Floyd E. Galloway of
the Army Air Corps, during the air pa
rade yesterday. The events of the fight
stand out in somewhat disjointed and
Kaleidoscope fashion, owing to the
weather, the rain and the effort to
take in all the varied aspects OF the
sky. the pageantry of the air parade
and something Of the happenings below
all at one time.
Field Dangerously Muddy.
Boiling Field yesterday morning be-
fore the rain began to fall already was
dangerously muddy, spotted with treach-
erous holes and covered with water
which filled all the low places. Early
in the morning the pilots OF CONNER
cial planes had decided the field was
too soft for them to attempt to fly In
a scheduled parade of civil aircraft.
BY the time the military air parade
was scheduled to move the rain had
been falling for two hours and had
settled into a hard and steady down
pour, adding to the hazards and dis
comforts of the pilots. Whether the
aerial review would be held at all was
doubtful until the last moment.
While a radio loud-speaker in the
operations Office still was bringing in
a running account of the preparations
for the Inauguration, however, three
nine-plane squadrons OF Navy obser-
walton planes were ordered out INTO
the field in take-off formations. In
the pouring rain the nine Army planes
LdxleQ Oub lIltU LAAC AlC1a AAbllt UAAS AAAA~s
their wheels and tail skids squirting
up sheets of water and mud which were
torn to mist by the propeller blast and
whipped away like smoke in a gale. The
planes were drawn up wing to wing In
line across the field the right resting
near the Anacostia Naval Air Station
Behind them in two more squadron
fronts" the Navy planes took their
stations. Switches were cut and the
planes all stood silent in the rain while
the pilots awaited the signal to take
off, SO minutes after III hour" which
was to be the conclusion of President
Hoover's Inauguration address.
The observers" who were to take
part in the fight were ordered into
flying outfits-full length padded suit
parachute, fur-lined helmet and Cog
giles. The equipment was receipted for
and release form signed clearing the
Army of financial responsibility in case
Of accident.
Awaits Orders i'm Rain.
An Army truck was waiting to take
observers and a few of the pilots around
the field to the Naval Air Station side
Of the field, from which it was easier
to reach the planes on foot. Arriving
near the formations, still many minutes
before Zero hour" the pilots and OBJ
servers stood in the rain awaiting the
word to go. Capt. Willis H. Hale, one
of the formation leaders, awaited at a
telephone in the Navy operations office
for the word to go.
Through the fog and clouds to the
south a formation of nine planes APP
peared dinly, cropping about in the
mist. They were observation planes
from Langley Field, which had been
temporarily at Quantico. One of them
broke formation and dropped into the
field for instructions, while the others
circled out of sight into the storm
The lone pilot was told that the review
was in doubt and was instructed to re-
join his formation, If he could find 1t,
and return to Quantico.
Then an Army TIC non-rigid dirigible
from Langley Field, one of two sent
over by the balloon company there, came
through the clouds, looking for the
Navy dirigible Los Angeles and three
smaller dirigibles which had been or
dered to rendezvous over Upper Marl-
boro, Md, to the East.
Hike Through Mud to Planes.
Finally Capt. Hale came running Out
of the operations building and pilots
and observers hiked through the muo
to the waiting planes. Mechanics
turned over the props" and there was
a deafening roar as motor after motor
took hold. The mechanics helped with
the final adjustment of paracfutes ano
goggles, mechanics scrambled out OF
the pilots cockpits and the pilots and
observers climbed aboard.
The mechanic assigned to Capt. Gal
loway's plane pulled a big wad OF
cheesecloth out of his pocket and tore
off a piece for each of us, to be used
in wiping off goggles. We settled into
the seats and buckled the broad safety
belts. From the right of the line q
plane with red streamers tied to the
struts TAXED out-Brig. Gen. Benjamin
D. Foulois, leader of the aerial parade
and his pilot. Maj. Carl Spatz, COM
mander of the famous Question Mark
on its record endurance flight. The
lowed and, after short run through
the mud and water, the three bounced
into the air.
The second formation pulled out of
line and was away. The plane to our
left. our formation leader. pulled out
of line. Capt Galloway gave her the
gum" the plane quivered, pulling out
of the mud, and we were off into the
pelting rain and fog. Gen. Foulois and
his formation had disappeared into the
haze: the formation ahead was dimly
visible wheeling up and off to the left
Dark patches of trees, with shreds OF
fog drifting over them, whirled by below
Field Left Behino in Haze.
A twist in the seat, while the rain cut
in below the goggles and the wind pulled
hard at the edges of the helmet, revealed
the first Of the Navy squadrons taxing
out into "V" formation on the field
and the leader taking off. Then Boiling
A IT, C:s--