Evening star., 1942-07-12

few feet away. "keg is the best
there is"
Sergt. Golay, %. and even smaller
than Sergt. Cunningham, nodded
his head vigorously in agreement.
He said the Germans picked them
up about 21a miles off the coast
and from there on in the anti
aircraft fire was awful
when we hit the ground, I
thought 1t was all over" he said. "a
few minutes before I had seen a
propeller fly past my post and I
thought Bennie Cunningham had
got Messerschmitt. Then I saw
smoke and looked out and saw it
was our propeller and I didn't feel
so happy any more"
Eaher Operations Officer
At Boiling Field in 1929-30.
Gen. Eaker, long recognized as
one of the best pilots in the Army
Air Force-which he joined in its
infancy during the World War-has
resided interinittently in Washing
ton since 1924, and served as opera
tions officer at Boiling Field in
1929-30. During 1929, he also took
an extended leave from the Army
to act as operations officer at old
Hoover Airport, then the local COM
n1ercial air terminal. 4 80
: Gen: Eaker's home Is at $500 "a
street NV.
Now 46. with his face beaten into
leather tan by years OF flying, Gen.
Eaker has had one OF the most
varied careers of any Army pilot,
surviving numerous forced landings
and participating In several record
breaking flights.
1t was while on duty at Boiling
Field IN 1880 that he joined the
ranks of the Caterpillar Club"
composed Of aviators who owe their
lives to parachute Jumps from un-
ruly planes. -
Landed From 1000 Feet.
A single-seat pursuit plane he was
testing on August 18, 1880, failed
to come out of a spin, and he took
to his parachute at the low altitude
of 1000 feet, landing safely in the
rear of the 5000 block of Nichols
avenue Sc.
Nearly two years, later, on Janu-
ary II, 1882, he stayed with a trans
port plane on which the landing
gear had jammed, and landed it on
Boiling Field, with no more dam
age than twisted propeller, the
blades Of which dug into the ground
as the ship slid along on the bot
tom Of its fuselage. He had three
other experiences Of the same kind
In other sections of the country.
During this period, Gen. Eaker-
then captain-acted for many
months as pilot for Maj. Gen. James
E. Fechet, then chief of the Army
Air Corps, and F. Trubee Dawson,
then Assistant Secretary Of War
for Aeronautics, on a number OF
inspection trips.
Took Part in Record Flight.
With his present superior officer,
Maj. Gen. Carl Spaatz, chief of air
operations in the European theater,
Gen. Eaker was one of the pilots
in the Army Question Mark" plane
which established an endurance
record of $50 hours, 40 minutes in
1929.
In an Army pursuit plane hooded
over, he made the first transcon-
tinental blind" flight 10 years
later.
Gen. Eaker was married in 1881
to Miss Ruth Huff Apperson, a
native of the Capital, who for a
time was a teacher at the Wash
ington School for Secretaries after
attending George Washington Uni
versity.
Gen. Eaker was graduated from
Southeastern State Teachers Col
lege at Durant, Okla, and attended
several universities during his Army
career. He studied law at the Uni
versity of the Philippines, and later
took business course at Columbia
University while assigned to Mitchell
Field in New York He also took
special courses at the University of
Southern California and collaborat-
ed with the commander of all United
States Army air forces, 1t. Gen.
Henry H. Arnold, in writing three
books on aviation.