Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-16
MD Tales From the Caterpillar Club
NJ
Pilot Showered by Bullets in
Decent After Bomber
Bursts Into Flames.
National Guard Officer Joins
Order When Fireworks
Explode in Ship.
BY DON GLASSMAN.

aircraft whose performance is improved
or doubtful. After a ship demonstrates
a tolerable capability, she graduates TO
the class Of trustworthy carriers.
At experimental air fields TX ships
are called test articles. Perhaps 1t
sounds ambiguous to call an aggregate
of parts an article. But the parts COM
mon to all sirplanes are indispensable
70 their operation Assembled, they
couprise single unit. Hence, this
point of view sanctions the neologism,
article.
Bag of Tricks.
This story deals with military test
article, a bomber called *" whose
home port was McCook Field, Dayton.
Pilots had sufficient reason to believe
her temper was fractions, capricious
and mcorrigible. She hid a bag Of I'M
suspected whimsicalities.
Lieut.. James T. Hutchinson was espe-
cially aware of the bombers flying quail
titles, He had nursed her through pre-
lirninary flights and discovered certain
ailments. Her principal defect was an
excessive vibration period originating in
the engine mount proper and transmit
TED through the longerons to the fuse
lage. Engineers had doctored the inn
perfection and the machine was aired
again. The vibration persisted. Mean
while, Lieut.. Hutchinson and Observer
Paul Stanley continued the perform
ance flights, intending to have the en-
CINE mount altered or redesigned later
A Craving for Action.
On the morning of June II, 1926,
Lieut.. Hutchinson arose with craving
for the test article. After breakfast he
inspected her cables and foils He saw
20 al he rail foV-x 1r2a1
slowed in the ships hold
A military load indicates that the
ships cargo is explosive, because that
lends warlike reality to the test. It is
not the ballast of commerce-lead bars,
bricks or sand bags. The LB-1 was
freighted with 800 gallons of gasoline,
six dummy bombs, six machine guns
and 1000 rounds of ammunition, be-
SIDES an assortment of paraphsrnalia
q man o. war carries
Let's get this planned" said Hutch
inson to Stanley, with uncanny force
sight. I'm case the vibration causes q
washout I'll give the word to jump.
Make up your mind how you're going
to navigate the wing, whether you'n
jump or just fall, and when youn pull
the ring.
i've decided how I'll manage. II
control is lost, I'll point for an open
field, cut the switches, take readings on
the instruments and hop over the fuse
lage"
Waving simple adieu, they climbed
into the pit. Hutchinson throttled half
gun, then full gun The Packard burst
into resounding racket and bored into
the wind. Soon they were of, leaving
McCook Field drowned in the echoes of
an 800-horsepower snort.
Zig gag, zig gag, up and up, back and
forth, the bomber banked, whipped her
tail and dipped wings as she assembled
graceful saw-tooth climbs. The altimeter
needle quivered over one thousand feet,
two thousand, three thousand, four
thousand. The countryside's perspective
stretched farther and farther. McCook
and Wilbur Wright Fields were patches
on the topographic quilt
Fingers of Fire.
Stanley watched the dash and kept
the dial log. Hutchinson observed per
Torrance without. The bomber's climb
ing attitude enabled her to pull the
frst lap at 80 m. p. h. A few more
s2wteeth brought them to 5000 feet.
Resuming observations, the pilot lev
eled out and raced down a horizontal
lane before dropping to 1900, with a
view Of climbing the last tooth again,
but at q sleeper angle and speed re-
duced to rs m. p. h.
What's that" Hutchinson asked,
alive to every dissonant note.
Engine sputter."
Switch her" directed the pilot.
Stanley obeyed. and changed the fuel
feed from the main to auxiliary tank.
The carburetors seemed undernourished
So he manned the wobble pump and
added pressure TO the gasoline flow.
-
tered in clearing its throat and coughed.
GIVE her more"
The fuel pressure gauge indicated
zero as Stanley prtrned the pump and
''wobbled" until the power plant caught
hold and ran smoothly.
Pungent fumes excited the observers
nostrils as he bent toward the dash
board.
"Boom!" a mufied Illumination star
tied the crew. Stanley twisted his head
In time to see sheet of blaze dart out
of the pit. Sneaking fire fingers wormed
into partitions and curled about their
feet
Caught on the Wing.
The bomber sank slightly, as If re-
pulsed by an depressing hand. They
stifTened and tried to comprehend their
straits
At the sound Of conclusion Stanley
clapped his hand on the safety-belt
buckle and released it. Squirting flames
licked air about him. simultaneously,
the pilot saw fare of fire surge out
of the cowling as it blew free with
sharp clang. The engine housing
bulsed. The fire-wall crumbled.
This first explosion came at 1880
pm. lust 2 hours and is minutes after
the take-oh Ten seconds later the
uaeells and engine sirnmered In names.
Jump, Stanley"
Not loath, the observer wriggled away
from the scorching heat, bestrode the
cockpit cowling, planted his feet on the
wing and threw himself into the air
blast. His hands swung free, as ne
planned to pull the hfe-ring after
clearing distractions. But ne mao taKen
the front exit into space and found
the winds backwash as powerful as
gravity. The entering wedge OF the
lover right wing scooped him up ana
supported his body near the hips. he
folded over the wing like halt-openeo
book. Struggling loose, he slipped un-
drrnaath. into the jaws Of space.
Soinning head over heals, ike MP
p-d coin. ne receded from the ship,
Alone with his flying magazine,
Hutchinson went about his own rescue
quite deliberately crawling Out on the
left wing. Then remembering that the
plane was headed straight for Dayton,
and forgetting for the moment that It's
load Of ammunition might explode any
time. he crawled back To the cockpit
and put the plane in spiral.
Again he crawled out on the wing
found bearings and launched his body
pertorce.
The Spiral of Death.
Al last. floating IN space, and freed
from the sweltering heat, he breatheo
deeply Coming to, after the opening
crack Of the chute, he or1ented himself
relative to the wreck and saw that they
were not safely separated. The shlr
sr11isad around ike a buzzard closing ir
on prey. Every spiral brought hel
,nsarer She closed heartlessly. AZ