Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-04

tinpan noises In the motor, but couldn't
make out what they were.
The whole ship burst into flames.
Flying almost instinctively, tipped
her nose for earth.
"A blind man has no place In the air
and no right to make a landing. At
that time / was southeast of Selfridge,
over the edge of Lake ST. Clair
Then a fountain of boiling water and
steaming alcohol drenched me. My face
was scalded. Water ran down my back,
poured all over me. couldn't under
stand where it came from. thought
I had overheated the engine.
with my mitten rubbed my goggles
Suuinting at the temperature gauge, /
saw there had been no overheating.
Something was loose, OF or broken.
well. it was time to ease out OF that
dive and forget my thought OF landing
The ship was wrapped in f1re. had
about 500 feet altitude when I reached
a sudden decision to leave. UNI
snapped my safety belt and, hall
las 1 left the cockpit it was alive
with fire. na
nulled the rip cord. The chute streamed
out. lifting me upright into a com
Portable seat and swinging me from
side to side. I watched my plane spin
down and bore through the SOLID lake.
'sIt didn't take me long to strike ice.
The landing came hard. The lake sur
face was fairly smooth and the open
chute skidded me a short distance: l
stopped about 500 feet east OF the P-l.
my back and body were consideranIy
wrenched, as my harness did hot nt
snucly. else wasn't adjusted properly.
And, as you know, there was no rubber
in Lake Clair ice that year.
Missing in Action.
st walked over to inspect the wreck.
All I could see was her tail sticking out
of a ragged hole in the ice sheet.
They hoisted her later and iolnd the
engine had plunged. through 21s feet OF
ice, feet of water and 2 feet OF lake
mud before stopping.
Technicians examined the power plant
and reported that a piston had d1slnte-
grated, severing the top end of the con-
Meeting rod, tearing apart cylinder walls
and water Jacket; this, in turn, pune
tured the crank case and sliced the fuel
line connecting the carburetors. Sprayed
gasoline ignited from flash in front Oh
the fire wall. The engine was beyond
repair.
1t Is noteworthy that exactly one year
before March S, 1925, Charles Lind
bergh made his second caterpillar jump
at st. Louis.
Lieut.. Hunters adventure over Lake
st. Clair ordained him and Lindbergh
the only second degree members in the
order, distinction they shared until
September 16, 1926. when Iindbergh
acquired the third degree.
have the story from Technical Sergt.
X. L. Horn, Air Corps, that Lieut.. Hun
ter returned to the operations desk and
evaded discussing his second jump;
Didn't you feel unusual emotions
when you discovered your ship burn
ing?" he was asked. And isn't there
same reaction now?"
Caterpillar Hunter answered with cool
complaisance:
mo" in the manner a teacher en-
lightens simpleton; you see, the plane
was on fire, cockpit smoking and burn
ing, my face scalded and eyes blinded"
A clerk interviewed and handed him a
sheaf of papers. Distracted by reading
he concluded the interview:
There was nothing to it. I had to
Jump; that's ALL" and courted silence
thereafter.
Besides wrenched back" I queried
what other injury did you suffer in
We'll, would you call it injury?" he
rejoined, looking into a window pane
A moustache went up in smoke"
Next: Death of the Sea Hawk.
Copyright, 1900