Evening star., 1933-09-02

it and field officials said that the flyer
had jumped and attempted to crawl
away before the fire killed him.
De Pinedos plane was travelling
at tremendous speed when it hit the
steel wire fence at 6:02 am, Eastern
Standard time.
He had covered about 1000 feet OF
the mile-long concrete runway before
disaster overlook him. The plane,
lurching under its great load of fuel.
refused to rise. One wheel got of the
ground but fell back, then the plane
Swerved into the dirt along the runway.
De Pinedo. going perhaps 100 miles
an hour, got the craft back to the con-
crete again. but moment later it
swerved again and dashed toward the
fence as De Pinedo applied his screech-
ing brakes.
Crowd Of zoo on Hand.
A crowd Of 200 who-had got up in
the middle Of the night to see the take
OF and who had cheered De Pinedo as
he stepped carefree into the plane stood
whitefaced as the charred body was
carried to the Nays sick bay at the
field
The plane. which was red with green
and purple stripes encircling it, had
been groomed for weeks by the flyer
with the help of his technical adviser
and backer, Ugo D'Annunzio, son Of
the famous poet. Gabriel D'Annunzio.
With smile the flyer, who had fol-
lowed the skyways to thousands on
thousands of miles to far corners of the
earth. told Of his ''gadgets" shortly
before the take-off He had equipped
the cockpit with a device which would
sound siren and slap water into his
face II the plane got of its course
above the Atlantic.
Refused to Cut Switch.
He also had five balloon kites with
which to signal to ships II the craft
was forced down at sea. but his conf
dent manner as he started the take-of
indicated that bad luck was far from
his mind.
DAnnunzio. speaking with white face
and tears in his eyes, said after the
crash:
"Of course. when you start to sway
In q plane every one knows that the
farther you 60 the worse it gets.
thought sure he would cut the switch,
but he had been here so long, he was
determined to 60.
Il think he still thought he could
lift the load even thought he had got
of the runway"
BY flying the $500 miles to Bagdad
De Pinedo had hoped to smash the
long distance record of $685. miles. set
by Paul Codos and Maurice Rossi in a
flight last month from New York to
Kayak, Syria.
Promised to Do Best.
Ao ~ or ;,,k1 o1o i,,
an old gray jersey and blue house Slip
pers. his last words were:
Il shall try to do my best"
De Pinedo was considered by many
airmen as Italy's best long distance
flyer. He retired last year from the
Italian Army, in which he rose to chief
OF staff for aviation and garnered every
citation possible for flyer. In 1927
he won laurels by plotting . flying
boat from Rome to the African coast,
thence to Brazil and the United States
While refueling in Arizona his ship
was destroyed when q spectator tossed
q match into the gasoline. He pro-
cured a new one, however, and flew
the Atlantic from New York back to
Rome. Two years earlier he made a
trip from Italy to Australia, to Japan,
to China, to India and return.
Learned to Fly In 1917.
The Marquis de Pinedo learned to
fly in 1917 and gained his first inter-
national recognition by his 1925 flight
from Rome to Toxic, Australia and
return.
He was born on February 16, 1890.
and was never married. His parents
live in Rome
He attended the secondary schools
Of Italy and was graduated from the
Royal italian Naval College. He SUBJ
sequently rose to the command of u
destroyer.
After flying for his country through
the war, he remained with the air
service and when that arm was sepa-
rated from the army and navy in
1928 he became an ofhcer In the Ital-
Ian Royal Air Force.
Acclaimed - Here
Following his Toxic flight he was
acclaimed as q national hero and Sc
lected, with Capt. Carlo del Prete as
his aide. to make Italy's four continent
flight to the Americas and return in
1877.
The venture. which involved air
crossings Of both the South and North
Atlantic and flight over South Ameri-
cas- trackless juneles In q plane that
could land only on water, was generally
hailed by airmen as an outstanding
feat of the time.
A good friend Of Gen. de Pineco
told the Associated Press today De
Pinedo's side Of the story concerning
differences with Gen. Balbo over the
check Italian Americans presented to
him in New York.
Forgot Deposit Slip
DE Pinedo told me that during Q
banquet given in his honor by Italian
Americana he NaS. pfeSented With O