Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-02

looking for an opening in the fog. Finally.
with his fuel supply nearly exhausted, Bowman
decided to jump.
Turning off his gas line and cutting his
switches Bowman stepped over the side of the
cockpit at elevation OF 5000 feet. He
counted five and then pulled his release ring,
the parachute swapping open Immediately.
Because of the height from which he jumped.
considerable time passed before Bowman landed,
unhurt near Castaic IS miles north Of Los
Angeles AS soon as he could reach tele-
phone, the air mail pilot notified his office at
Los Angeles and searching party was sent out
to locate the plane. Nothing publicly re-
ported at the time about the value of Bowman's
mail cargo
Despite systematic search, it was nearly
two weeks before the abandoned plane was
located about half mile from the spot where
Bowman made his parachute landing. The ship
was wrecked, but mail sacks with the $750,0
In securities intact.
Lieut.. John A. Macready, of nonstop trans
continental fight fame, made his leap on a
night fight from Columbus to Dayton. At
approximately 5000 feet, the motor died. When
Macready jumped, he landed among some trees,
crashing into the limbs. Ee grabbed and broke
Off branches as he went through, hoping to
find one that would hold his weight. Macready
expected hard impact when his feet hit the
ground, but IL stead his parachute became en-
tangled in the branches through which he fell,
leaving him suspended against the bank Of a
90-foot ravine. He was unhurt, however and
his calls for help brought aid from the owner
of the estate on which he had landed.
Cadet Roderick M. Krider and his observer,
Cadet Shleppy, joined the Caterpillar Club by
making the first emergency jumps ever accom-
plished from Martin bomber. The necessity
for the jumps occurred when two Martin bomb
ers that were flying in seven-ship formation
col1ided while making a left turn. The plane
Krider was plotting was put out Of control.
The other ship, although damaged, was piloted
safely back to Kelly Field. OF what occurred
after the crash, Krider reported:
II looked around and saw that the aileron
and a portion of the lower left wing were
gone. I noticed that the ship that struck us
was passing under our wings in noSe-down
position and 1t looked as If 1t had just Owed
through my wings. I Immediately rolled my
aileron controls to the right and damned on
my left motor in an effort to lift the left wing
into horizontal position. got no results
and the ship was going into a spin.
"Snleppy had been riding with the left leg
strap of his parachute unbuckled so he could
reach in his pocket and get peanuts. Shleppy
has nerve He stayed right with me until I
tapped him on the shoulder and motioned that
it was time to jump. Shleppy climbed out
ahead Of me- going out between the motor
and fuselage on the left-hand side. I climbed
out on top of the catwalk over the bomb-bay,
so we would not get in each others way.
Shleppy jumped and followed a short time
later
An ARMY chute" lent to Sergt. Art Smertz
by Lieut.. Russell L. Vaughan, transcon-
tinental dawn to dusk" flyer, saved his life in
Ogden, Utah, during an air circus staged by
Vaughan and his Reserve officers, together
with Smetz and some commercial flyers headed
by Tommy Thompson.
Before Smertz went up in plane piloted by
Charles Mayse, Lieut.. Vaughan gave him an
Army parachute pack which he strapped on
his back, leaving his other parachute in front.
At 4,500 feet Smertz leaped, it being his inten-
ton to drop as far as possible without opening
his chute. At about l. 400 feet after falling
unimpeded for more than 5000 feet, Smertz
found himself on his back in the air and de-
cided to open his own chute"
'The jerk of it broke the harness and Sc
verely Jared me-" Smertz said afterward. I'm
a semi-conscious state remembered the para
chute on my back and just before I lapsed
into Inconsistencies managed to get it opened.
do not remember anything after that"
Smertz was unconscious when he landed.
Copyright, 1929