Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-05
JENKINS At WORK
AFTER PLANE CRASH
Inventor and Pilot Made
Forced Landing Near Mil
ton, N. c., Yesterday.

G. Francis Jenkins. television inventor
was back at work among his scanning
discs and photoelectric cells today.
wholly undiSturbed by the fact that he
and companion had narrowly escaped
with their lives when his flying tele-
vision laboratory" crashed In a treetop
Tuesday near Milton, N. C.
In report to the Department of
Commerce yesterday DR.. Jenkins dis
closed that two cylinders of his radial
air-cooled engine broke loose while he
was flying from Greensboro, N. c., to
| this city and he was forced to land the
laboratory" Stinson four-place cabin
monoplane, in rough farming terrain
Neither the inventor nor his co-pilot,
William Payne OF Arlington County, Va,
was injured, and the plane was not
greatly damaged, In the opinion of its
owner. Payne was in North Carolina
today experimenting the work of dis
mantling and Grating the ship for re-
turn to the Stinson factory in Detroit,
where 1t will be reconditioned.
Gust a Tough Break"
ooh. yes; we had a bit of bad luck, I"
DR.. jenkins commented today as he in
terrupted his researches in his Connec-
ticut avenue laboratory. But it didn't
amount to much. hate to have the
plane out of service so long, as we need
it in our work. You see, I'm using it in
radio experiments and this will delay
us while. Hurt? No; neither of US
got hurt. 1t was Just a tough break,
that's ALL"
But you did have to land the ship
in treetop, didn't you?" the inventor
was asked
Certainly; there wasn't anything
else to do under the circumstances. The
4
1t was cedar tree. and when we came
to rest with little jolt the ships tail
was up In the tree and its nose was
against a hillside. I climbed out and
cut hole In the fuselage to see how
much we were damaged and was thank
full to find that all the framework
seemed OK. One wing didn't look so
good however"
DR.. Jenkins was returning here after
taking his 87-year-old father, A. M.
jenkins, to Greensboro on visit.
Wife Predicted Accident.
Before left Washington Mrs. Jen-
kins predicted I would have an acci-
dent" the scientist said, with laugh.
These women seem to have an intui-
ton of some sort, don't they? And do
| long distance and told her had
landed she told me had had an
accident and might as well tell her
all about it,
Jenkins said he was following the
air mail route and was approaching the
town Of Milton when he first noticed
strange noise" in the motor. The in
| ventor, who was at the stick, called
Payne's attention to the noise and to
| a spot of oil out front
I'VE were about 1000 feet up when
! the trouble began" he stated. The
| noise increased into a pound and
was startled to see one of the cylinders
| break loose, so that it was supported
only by the manifold. 1t was being
pounded and battered by the piston.
Il asked Payne, who had the maps on
! his Jap, where the next emergency land
| ing field was. He said there was small
one about miles ahead, Just beyond
| the town Of Milton, which could see.
I decided to try and make 1t by going
| into glide to gain momentum. Mean
while the companion cylinder to the one
already loose also broke away. The en-.
CINE kept going, but was splattering OIL
over the windshield and making ter
rible racket.
Payne Takes Stick.
IT saw we could never make the field
and looked beneath us. It was farming
country, with cleared fields checkereo
against forests. Payne is better pilot
than I am and asked him If he wanted
to take the stick and put her down in
one of those cleared spots. He took the
stick and / cut of the ignition and
turned of the gas valves.
ITO our surprise the engine continued
to run with the switch and the gas of
1t kept our speed up, and we tried IN
vain to slow her down. don't under
stand yet why that engine kept going
Anyway, Payne sideslipped toward 9
field and leveled the plane out until
We were skimming the ground. We just
missed some telegraph wires. But the
engine kept going and we were travel
ing so fast it was impossible to land
There was a grove of cedar trees just
ahead, and there was nothing to do but
try to zoom over them into the next
j field.
But one wing cauf41t in the branches
Of one Of the trees and whirled the