The Coolidge examiner., 1938-09-22

NEW YORK.-In 1918, the Bolshe-
viks were fixing to shoot Maj.
Alexander P. de Seversky, but he
persuaded them to let him go to
SeUersky Gets could get a new
A Wealth of wooden leg. He
TL:, uo got it, also beau
tiful wife, a S.,
900. 900 airplane factory, and lot
Of flying records, eliminating in his
new east-west transcontinental rec
ord of 10 hours and minutes, from
New York to Los Angeles.
Flying for Imperial Russia in the
World war, he engaged in more
than 100 dogfights with the Germans
and dropped l3 of them. But one
day they dropped him-into the Bal
tic. A forty-pound bomb, which he
had failed to release, exploded as
the ship struck the water, and blew
1t to bits.
Recovering consciousness lat
er, he discovered that, witless
as he was, he had been clinging
TO a pOntOon. The water was red
around him. Shifting his good
leg over the pontOon, he made
tOrniquet of his torn rouser leg.
He swooned again, as a Russian
destroyer picked him up. He
crOw-hopped the Chinese border
on his wooden leg, as a stupid
border guard refused to recog-
nize his papers.
Washington received him hoSpita-
bly,, in April, 1918, and made him
consulting engineer for the army
air service. He later experienced
some rough going. but the only real
crack-up IN his career was encom-
passed in that drop into the Baltic.
He was steadily on the uptake, de-
signing planes, flying and bringing
through his factory. In 1888, he
designed and built an amphibian
plane which made a record Of 17779
miles per hour. Trained in the I'M
perial Naval academy, he has con-
tributed greatly to aviation engi-
neering and design.
Several years ago, using an alarm
clock and few electrical odds and
ends. he made a waltzing plane,
swaying rhythmically with band
music from below. His waltzing
days were over and he found this
a satisfactory substitute.
NIMON LAKE. the inventor Of the
~ submarine, 70 years old, hopes
some day to get an under-sea peek
at the sunken continent of Atlantis.
Lake Out to tel in New York.
Redeem the he is up to his
S,bror;r knees in blue
prints q subma-
rine adaptations ard gs6gets which
he hopes viii be found useful by the
deep sea bouleva-dier. His father
IS 81; his grandfather lived TO the
age Of 96 and his sister 70 l02. Al
though his once red hair is white. he
thinks he is just now getting his
start in life.
His Is basic patents alone made
the submarine possible. Like many,
possibly most, inventors, he could
devise scheme for almost any,
thing except getting what was COM
ing to him. So. in his genial, casual
way, he is broke.
Reading Jules Verne, when he
was 10 years old, led him to capsize
a rowboat on the Toms river in
New Jersey and test his staying
powers in the submerged air cham
ber. In 1894, he made a wooden
submarine. ID feet long, with soda
water tank supplying compressed
air. 1t worked nicely. In 1894, he
made the Argonaut, Jr., in which
he cruised under the water for thou
sands Of miles on Chesapeake bay.
Like the Wright brothers, he
aroused little attention. He final
ly got Washington interested
when he telephoned to the capi-
tol from the bottom of the sea.
His working submarine came
through. Washington didn't
seem to care much what he did,
so he took his invention to for
eign capitols. CZarist Russia
made him some impressive Of
fers but he decided they were a
dissOlute lot and, as a seIf-re-
specting American business
man, he wouldn't have anything
to do with them.
All in all, he became fed up with
bureaucrats and red tape and gov-
ernments in general and turned to
deep sea treasure hunts. The sub
marines, Of course. destroyed much
more treasure than they ever
dredged up. This troubles him. Wig
orous and energetic, with a wrin-
kled. knobby weather-beaten face,
genial and friendly, he plugs along
alone in his hotel to redeem the
submarine by making it a general
cargo and passenger carrier.
@ Consolidated News Features.
WNU Service.