Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-19
A Man
Who Flies Like
ABat

the sky linen wings three miles above the earth,
j few 81" This thrilling sensation is best
known to Manus Mickey Morgan. of Oakland California
who holds the worlds altitude record for such
flgts He calls himself Americas Number Bat Wing
Filler"
From the sky. Morgan looks like giant bat, with
Enthusiastically wings spread wide This appearance
is made by the folding wings Of aipane fabric attached
to his sides and arms and by the broad web Of the
material fastened trousers egsTae
wings ribbed with light steel tubing. operate the
way that they do on real bat
Morgan to earth at average speed of GO
miles hour with his wings open. and pummets 100
miles per hour with them closed. He opens and closes
them at will and paneuvers his webbed pants guide
him in flight He Gan fly around like glider loop the
loop tai-spin, fly upside-down and land anywhere he
chooses.
Twenty-nne years old plane pilot since 1890
Morgan has done plenty of suntng and wing walking and
since 1882 he has made $50 parachute jumps He up
wing flying as hobby five years ago and turned it
into business. He has made 10s jumps with wings
He has dived from the skies featured thrill per-
former at dozens of air shows fairs and exposon and
from 1885 to 1887 he the star stunt the He'll
Divers Flying Circus, which toured America.
Morgan's biggest thrill came. he declares when ne
in 1887 in his home town Sioux Falls South Dakota In
that same year Glen Sohn the American who started
the human bat flights, killed in France Two other
bat wing filters have been killed then.
The record. then held by sohn. 1880 feet Nor
gan set mark when he took off from plane at
1880 feet
wings with almost much ability a real bat Some
times he could pick up the wind and reduce his speed
in lesurey fashion and enjoy the view thousands of
feet below.
With his wings of course Morgan a parachute
which be opens when he gets the ground To
tempt to land the rough earth about go miles
hour would invite suicide
This human glider has mad escapes
death At recent air show at Willows California he fell
1000 feet upside down before he could pull out of the dive
and his wings properly In 1885 while stuntng for
American Legion convention in Branerd. MINI. he got
into terrific head spin and had struggle for 1000 feet
to-
wards the ground. making impossible to his
chute without getting tangled up in it. But. luckily he
turned in time to glide to safety
His narrowest escape happened Ogden, Utah.
Morgan baed out at 10000 feet and began soaring earth
in the usual manner while crowd of people watched
breathlessy from a. county fair.
After stunning and gliding about jauntily for thou
sands of feet to the he pulled the rip
cord Of his parachute and prepared to land He d.
recy the tracks of fast-movng passenger train
but he figured the wind would carry him to one sde out
danger the wind suddenly shifted II
straight ahead right into the path of the rushing loco
motive. For while 1t looked like certain and ofIible
death 1t only by desperate and expert handling Of
the parachute cords that he able to change the
course of his fall and his life.
His funniest landing occurred when he headed FOR
tiny tomato patch Oakland to win a bet-and
It, The vines heavy with rich and ripe tomatoes AS
he landed they squashed against his wings and flying toys
and made him look though he covered with blood
When he salked from the vines looking like
strange wounded creature from another planet young
woman who him land, tainted.
1t is Morgans ambition to hang up a human bat ati-
high that nobody will break In his life
plans to be the first bat wing nier to jump from
the stratosphere
The reason he jumped higher tran
feet because he could not get airpane
any higher plane would get about that high he
plains and then get washed OUT because of thin air
Morgan intends to go up a plane that will reach
higher lie will breathe oxygen from $4,000
feet up, but he would not jump with oxygen tank
strapped his back he says he could keep his wings
folded and drop 5000 feet minute and could hold his
breath until he got into the heavier air again.
This will be Morgans 1O9th and last bat wing flight
When he married a short time ago in Sioux Falls he
promised his bride Irene that he would quit the human
bat business forever after this last mountaineering jump