The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-06-28

- "N - NaoOnCo " uoS'
rble pilot. But don't be hasty. There is a
slight difference between my crashes and those in CONNER.
have been photographed for motion pictures.
My professicn-or trade. if you prefer-is that of a
stunt man tor the movies. and crashing up airplanes is my
or less accidentally fell into stuntins. l was an assistant
property man. and on the lot one day a stunt man lost his
nerve and refused to make a 40.foot dive into a net. I VOL
t Sn'ss: ssd ; ;S:'. ii i S S;tss's' : ;ss :.;sa, p @,.'a With fb, The fI result 1s,t fof
got more than lOO stunts to do. and only smashed two ribs.
which was remarkably lucky.
screen and laugh them off as faxed are in the same class with
sion and says. Jaw. he had it up his sleevel"'
The movie stunt; are real; most Of them; and that is why
a hlshly:priced actor TO Jump from a moving train or crack
up an ,airFP!!ane' even if the actor knew how. He would be
too valuable to risk.
And don't think the risk isn't a real one. even to a trained
stunt man. Last year Is men were killed on Hollywood
lots. nine were permanently injured. and l272 men and
women were hurt badly enough to require a physicians at
tend9n.
The risk in the thrill stunts of the screen is very real even
to trained stunt men, so you can see why the directors don't
want to risk their ~high-pnced actors. The risk would be
even greater tor them because they don't know how to stunt.
4 FTER that FIRST high dive. | trained and practiced. l
n was taught BY veteran stunt men how to handle my
body in The air. went through all the stunts that fall
to the lot OF Hollywood stunt men-leaping from speeding
autos. wreckins autos, changing from plane to plane. from
plane to auto OF motorboat. jumping of cliffs. and dozens Of
others.
But gradually l turned more and more to plane stuntins.
particularly plane crashes. My experience as an aviator over
. result I found that I seldom lacked work in making
crashes.
To the "a crashes l have made up to this time. | expect
reason why ! should not reach 50 before ! quit the business.
my ability to smash a ship on an absolute spot in a restricted
territory. Experience teaches me what to do to be able to
walk away from the wreck.
It sounds simple. and yet 70 tear the wings from a ship
involves unusual problems.
In the FIRST place. il l were to miss I'd not only not get
and men are always placed tIe directly !" in 'front.' front Of the / designated
spot.
TOR wings" it wa necessary to do a crash into no
mans land" This no mans land was as real as was
that OF the western front during the war. As a matter
OF tact. the reconstructed area wa: closely supervised by the
generals actually in command Of such sectors during the
Great War. Every piece of abandoned artillery. every pill
box and machine gun nest was placed as it had been at the
date the action in the picture called for.
Hence the barbed wire entanglements were built of cedar
wire wa. Of real wal stock. Shell holes 70 feet in diameter
and half tia, in depth pined, the entire area.
When ! looked At that burned and broken country and
thought that ! had to dive into it-in a real little 220 S. P.
A. 2. at a speed Of 80 miles an hour. | almost lost hope.
a forced landing at any time in such territory usually
and land on a spot within vision of the Fl cameras detailed
to shoot the action.
Every possible protection was taken. A section IS feet
wide was re-made. The real cedar posts were removed and
feather-ight ones Of balsa wood were substituted. The wire
was unstrung and cotton yarn placed on the balsa posts.
After they were painted. it looked almost as real as it had
before.
Several other precautions ! took. The Spad plane had
= pressure system of gasoline feed-and contained its
large tank under the belly Of the ship. This arrange
ment (! changed completely. dicarding the big tank and using
a smaller one on the top wing. This fed the carburetor by
gravity; Such an arrangement minimized the danger of FIRE.
Furthermore. as the ~lonserons were of wood. | stripped the