Evening star., 1932-08-21

OF adventures in "bumpy air" will have
to take back seat when Staff Sergt. J.
D. Meeks. 23d Photo Section, Army Air
Corps, is around. Sergt. Meeks is father
to the grandfather of all bump" stories.
His bump was feature of a recent
flight by the 9Th Bombardment Squad
ron through the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado.
The bombers made several trips up
and down the canyon. below the rim,
while several Photographic planes.
among them the cabin monoplane con-
tanning Sergt. Meeks, few close by
Meeks' ship, passing over the canyon
rim, below the bombers. was caught by
a trem msndcus down current. Let Meeks
tell the story:
Il was bending over to pick up
camera" he said, when suddenly saw
the floor of the ship drop from under
me. There I was. floating helplessly In
midair. That awful, vacant sensation
passed over me and then the ceiling
overlook me and l was pressed firmly
against it-lying on my back on the
ceiling. Then, just as suddenly, the
floor came up and gently settled itself
beneath me. The camera had been
lifted from the floor and set back up
side down."
Annual Matches Planned.
Langley Field, Hampton, Va, home
Of the I'd Bombardment Wing, will be
the scene Of considerable activity In
September, when the annual machine
gun and bombing matches will be
staged for Air Corps officers from most
of the pursuit, bombardment, attack
! ND oh G,-A H. a. 4
/ States.
The officers who will take part are
those who made the highest expert
scores In record firing practice In their
own organizations during the past year.
An invitation will be extended to the
Secretary Of the Navy to send Navy
and Marine Corps pilots to pit their
accuracy in machine-gun fire and
bombing against that of the Army
personnel
Aside from the Air Corps organiza-
tions stationed at Langley Field which
will be represented in the matches, 1t Is
expected that teams from other Air
Corps fields totaling some 40 officers
and 81 enlisted men will fly to Langley
for the matches.
Four events are scheduled-one for
pursuit pilots, the second for attack
and observation pilots, the third for OBJ
servers and the fourth for bombers. The
winners of the events will receive the
ratings Of distinguished aerial gunner
or aerial bomber and are removed from
competition in any Of the future an
nual matches.
Dillon Joins CaterpilIarA
Lieut.. Comdr. w. NJ. "Gotch" Dillon.
vuI,4 a.
charge of Naval Aviation Reserve train
ing, on duty in the Navy Bureau Of
Aeronautics here. has joined the Cater
pillar Club. While leading VT Squad
ron 5. near San Diego, Calf. early
this month, Comdr. Dillon experienced
a structural failure which forced him
to take to his parachute.
When the tail assembly failed, Comdr
Dillon was thrown into a steep right
chandelle, or climbing turn, from which
the ship went into a steep dive which
the pilot could not break.
At an altitude of about 1000 feet,
Comdr. Dillon "bailed out" His para
chute opened beautifully and lowered
him gently into the waters Of San
Diego Bay. A fast civilian speedboat
which put out as he jumped was the
AIIoI W ACdCu t1lC p4Ot, wiz Wuo cWuu-
ming easily, despite the heavy flight
gear he was wearing.
Novel Diving Rig Built.
Federal economy proved no barrier
to enterprising members of vP Squad
ron / when they decided a diving gear
was necessary to rescue parts of train
ing plane landing gears which occa-
sionally were lost of the runway at
the Fleet Air Base, Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii.
The diving helmet. designed by Avia-
tion Pilot G. A. Hargrave, was con-
structed Of a five-gallon oil can cut to
At the shoulders and fitted with air
and telephone connections. A square
hole was cut in the can and fitted with
window to provide vision. Air is
| supplied by means Of discarded four
cylinder motor cycle engine, turned by
hand crank, each cylinder acting as
an air pump. The cost to the Govern
ment was 5000, 1t was reported.
Tests of the set were successful, but
the squadron had to wait two weeks
before putting it to work. Then an ex-
pensive tail dolly was dropped acciden-
tally in IS feet of water. The dolly was
recovered after a 25-minute search.