Evening star., 1933-08-06


In use to insure 1t.
It is probably no exaggeration to say
that uppermost in the mind OF every
man who flies in the airmal service Is
the thought, amounting to conviction,
that "the mail must 30 through" That
same thought has been in the minds OF
thousands of other men in all branches
of the United States postal service during
all the years of its existence.
CONSIDER, for instance, the sense OF
~ duty and responsibility Of Pilot Roy
H. Warner. He was flying plane be-
tween Boise, Idaho, and PaSco, with n
pouches of airmail, at 2:10 in the morn
ing, at an elevation of $500 feet. Twenty
miles west Of Baker emergency landing
field something went wrong with the
planes gas supply. Although made
groggy by escaping fumes, he managed
to land his plane (Which had no pas
sengers), and despite imminent danger
of explosion, be removed the mail
pouches.
Similarly, two other airmail pilots,
Edward A. Bellande and Lynn Berken-
kamp, risked their lives in the perform
ance of what they conceived to be their
duty. When a fire was discovered in the
plane on a regular airmail fight near
Oakland, Calf, they made quick and
skillful landing, kept the passengers re-
assured, and at great personal risk
brought every one safely to earth.
The last is a recent case of devotion to
duty in the airmail service. But one
can turn back in the records of the Post
Office Department and find instance
after instance when pilots seemingly
were imbued with the idea that the mails
must go through. Turning back in the
records only seven years, to the Fall Of
1926, one finds report Of Pilot C.. A.
Lindbergh, who then was flying mail
from st. Louis to Chicago. Fifty miles
from Chicago one night he encountered
dense, heavy fog. He few back, trying
to find a hole in the blanket Of fog.
No luck. He realized his gas supply was
practically exhausted. So he jumped
and landed safely via parachute. He
found the plane, secured the mail and
entrained it at Ottawa, Ill.,, whence it
arrived in Chicago at am. in time to
make" the eastbound transcontinental.
Perhaps that training helped to make
the man who later became "Lindy" to
an entire Nation.
Then there was Pilot Ambrose Banks,
flying over Warren, Ohio, with 81 sacks
of airman, when the planes motor stop
inv 6,af H0
chose to stay with the plane in forced
landing. He brought it down in field,
but the ship struck a telephone post and
burst into flame. Nevertheless, with the
aid of firemen from Warren, % bags Of
mail were saved.
Dn.OT PAUL F. COLLINS knew when
he left Cleveland on regular air
mail fight to New York that there was
adverse weather ahead. He met the line
squall-such one as wrecked the giant
dirigible Shenandoah-and tried to
climb over its twisting winds A lower
wing was ripped away, and the ship
went into a nose dive. Collins shut OF
the motor to prevent an explosion when
the plane struck ground. He tipped
open the catch of his safety belt, grab
bed the strut of the remaining wing and
swung out of the plane. He foated to
earth with his parachute, landing In a
small clearing. He found the plane a
mile away. with 800 pounds of airman
still intact. The mail was put aboard a
train and sent to New York.
In the Western mountains, in the early
days of the airmail service, Pilot Robert
H. Ellis left Rock Springs for Salt Lake
and struck heavy headwind at an alti-