Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-30
HUNTER BROTHERS
ARE STILL IN AIR
AFTER SETTING MARK
continued FROM First page.l

NSODLlfIueu FTOIn FlTSJ FdHe.b
longer to be clicked officially by w. p.
Mcfarland and Maj. Luke Christopher
of the National Aeronautical Associa-
TONS contest committee.
The cheers of thousands burst the
suburban Sunday stiffness at Sky Har-
Der Airport when the plane came
through the dawn with a new record on
its wings. Half of this crowd had come
early and the other half stayed late.
Two score Army planes-pursuits and
bombers, here for the Army show
went up in the afternoon in salute for
nation. More than 10000 automobiles
honked through the heat of the day to
the field and nearby roads.
There are four Of these Hunter boys,
all from Egypt-that part of Southern
Illinois named for the land of the Nile.
John is "a and Kenneth, 81; then Al
bert, 80, and Walter, "a, make up the
ground crew that had contacted 1855
times with the plane up to the last
refueling last night.
Their sister, Irene. also pilot. cooks
the meals.
From Sparta, ILL.,, where the Hunter
boys were born to the farm, hundreds
of congratulatory messages poured into
the Hunter camp at Sky Harbor-and
more hundreds of people chartered
buses, rode trains and drove automo-
biles to keep Sparta represented at the
record breaking.
Most of the messages were opened by
the brothers mother, Mrs. Ida Hunter,
and then sent aloft.
"Everytime we. go up John and Ken
meth stick their head out the cabin
windows and grin from ear to ear"
said brothers Albert and Walter after
one Of their refueling trips yesterday.
Walter Tauyht Brothers.
The four brothers practiced aviation
in the COW pastures back on the farm.
They first rode motor cycles, they drove
automobiles: then came the airplane
obsession and they augmented their
farm cash by working in coal mines
to scrape enough together to buy a
secondhand plane. 1t was an old
Standardization ready for the scrap
heap. Walter learned to fly first-he
went alone from st. Louis to Sparta and
then taught his brothers.
Then came transforming tours-with
Walter and Albert plotting the ship and
John and Kenneth doing wing walking
and parachute jumping at county fairs.
John finally entered the airmail serv-
ice; Walter got transport plane; Ken
meth became an instructor; Albert
stayed in Sparta.
The city of Chicago" is a second
hand, 2-year-old Stinson- Detroiter
cabin monoplane, powered by a 800
horsepower Wright whirlwind motor.
The ship had been flown more than
$4,000 miles previously to the inauspic-
ious beginning of the present flight 10
days ago. The refueling plane is of the
same type.
An unestimated fortune awaited the
landing OF the Hunter boys. The
record itself will be worth many thou
sands to them. There will be emolu-
ment for Endorsement Of instruments
used. There will be percentage of
the profits made by other planes at Sky
Harbor which carried passengers at
tracted to the field by the endurance
performance. Altogether the profits
promise to run more than 100000.
Crowd Surprises Mother.
1.-THE flyers mother, So years old. and
a widow for 18 years, seemed surprised
that thousands of persons should come
to the airport in the early morning
hours to witness the record breaking
by her boys.
They do seem real excited" she
said.
Some one asked her how it felt to be
standing there in the dawn, looking up
and seeing her sons establishing a new
world record.
Well" she said slowly, 1T felt"
here she paused, searching for some
word to express her emotion and finally
ending. real good"
A message of congratulations from
the hometown chamber Of commerce
at Sparta, Ill. brought a grin to the
face Of Albert Hunter, and he remarked.
Yeah? They're the ones who used
to say, Those Hunter boys will break
their necks riding around in them new
tangled contraptions.
For time last night uneasiness
gripped the airport officials and ground
crew.
On the last refueling at O'Clock a
petcock in the gasoline hose became
stopped up and the tank in the City
Of Chicago was not filled.