Imperial Valley press., 1929-11-07
Chamber Host
To Air Fleet
Continued From Page IL

is, without exception, one Of the
finest we have seen on the trip and
the enthusiasm and courtesy of your
people has not been exceeded any
where" Steel was followed BY Va
terman, of the Los Angeles Metro
rolitan airport; Tommy" Fowler,
pilot of the tri-motored Folker
plane; Fred \. Worthy, president
of the California Aircraft Expo
sition Corporation, Paul Ruther, fly
ing the American Legion, folker
plane, Earl Ovington, the first air
mail pilot and Ted Schluter. chair
man Of the committee Of the Los Al
geles Junior chamber in charge of
the tour. Miss Florence Barnes was
also introduced, representing the
women aviators on the tour.
Leo Hetzel closed the meeting.
telling of the plans of the state
chamber of commerce aeronautics
committee, of which he is a member.
10 have the government grant land
for emergency fields in parts of the
country where the communities are
not in position TO do so. This would
correspond with the land given to
the railroad companies in the early
days and would insure emergency
landing fields in uninhabited see
tions, thus increasing the safely on
long distance flights.
BY 10 O'Clock this morning the
last of the air tour planes had left
Imperial county airport, most of
them returning to Los Angeles
though dozen or more commercial
lIanes headed for San Diego. Moth
ing happened to mar the departure
Of the planes.
The pilots were unanimous in de-
claring the airport one of the best
they have seen on their tour and
much better than those in communi-
ties of larger size. Arrangements
for handling the spectators and pro-
viding for refue}ine, also came in
fer praise from the flyers.
The planes began arriving yester-
day afternoon about O'Clock, some
what earlier thaa was expected
There was a large crowd out at the
airport and this was increased later
until at dusk there was crowd
inside and outside the field.
In all i3 planes were lined up on
two sides of the landing field, rang
ing from the tiny low wing Emsco,
to the gigantic Ford of the Maddux
Lines and the Richfield Fokker.
Among those shown were Waco.
Travelair, Fleet, Spartan, Fairchild.
FmscO, urtisRobin, Stearman
Simplex, Bach, Kreutzer, Ryan
Universal, Fokker, Axelson, Ford
Rellanca. Eaglerock. Great Lakes
Lockheed-Vega, Boeing, Challenge
Timm, Swallow, Franklin, Moth,
and Consolidated type of army
plane.
Considerable attention was shown
the Fairchild, cabin Job with
folding wings; the Emsco and Sim
plex, tiny low wing designs; the
Ford Maddux and Fokker tri-motor
planes, the Bellanca. similar to the
one Clarence Chamberlain used in
flying the Atlantic; the Curtis
Robin, sister ship to the st. Louis
Robin, holder of 7he endurance rec
ord; Ryan, countorpart of Lindv's
ship; and the Loekheed- Vega, the
last to land and one speedy ship in
looks and action.
Machine Wrecked
Good luck averted tragedy when
an Aeromarine monoplane, piloted
by Lindsay Giit.s, Los Angeles
cracked up in landing. Although
The plane was completely wrecked,
Gilles was unhurt. He made the
mistake of coming in the wrong
way and heading for the Ford,
Maddux when he shot his plane into
TIE air to avoid hitting the larger
ship. One wing tilted and hit the
ground, the other striking a pole
which prevented the plane from
heading into group of spectators.
Parts Of the plane flew in all di
rections, the engine rolling up tol
the airport office. Mayor Clements
and his daughter, Katherine, were
standing near where the crash oc-
cured, the plane passing over their
heads as it careened toward the
ground. Giles sustained only minor
bruises.
He had received his pilots license
only short time before starting
cut with the aig tour and has had
only limited experience. None of
the other planes fxperiencad anv