Evening star., 1943-12-07
u. ). Pilot Rescued
By Raj Gas Supply
After Forced Landing
BY THOMAS X. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.

UNITED STATES AIR BASE IN
ITALY, Nov. % Delayed )--Trapped
in maze of impenetrable air walls
over Greece and Albania, reduced
to a five-minute gas supply and
finally forced down in a farmers field
where his wheels plowed 6 inches
deep in mud, 1t. Jules J. Hymel of
/ Luling. La. was rescued when an
RAF plane flew over and tossed him
tin cans of gasoline from an altitude
Of about 100 feet.
| Fellow pilots still cannot under
stand how 1t. Hymel got home II
was an almost perfectly geared COM
bination of skill and luck,
He had started out with 1t. Rich
ard Hattendorf of Wheaton, Ill, or
the daily morning weather observa-
ton fight over the Greek noun
talns. Over the Gulf of Corinth they
began to encounter the fronts
One of these is like high stone
wall N the sky, as far as pilots are
concerned. 1t is great mass o1
cumulonimbus clouds reaching tc
attitudes of from 10000 to 10000
teet and extending downward to as
low AS 5000 feet. From the bottom
level heavy rain is falling.
Hemmed in by Fronts"
The flyer either turns away OF
tries to fly over. Hymel and Hat
| tendorf turned north over the Greek
mountains. Near Mount Olympus
over which the sun was rising, they
bumped into another front They
tried climbing, but at 10000 feet
it still lowered above them and
they had to give up the attempt
since gas was beginning to run low
They were forced by the walls OF
the maze over Salonika, where they
were greeted with heavy ack-ack
fire They turned back toward the
Gulf of Corinth They found, as
Hymel expresses it, "a lane between
the fronts just about wide enough
for five planes to go through
abreast" 1t was quite similar Ia
| flying through q narrow mountain
pass.
Over the AEGEAN the pass through
the clouds ended in a solid wall
again. There was nothing left tc
do but plunge into rain and almost
complete lnvisibility. There they
became separated. Hattendorf had
a gas supply for about half hour
Hymel was already down to enough
for only 10 minutes.
Halts Plane on Ground.
1t. Hymel came out in clear
weather over the AEGEAN and. flying
toward Italy at point we'll north
OF the present Allied lines. by the
sheerest stroke of luck met Hatten-
dorf again. He signalled his pre-
dicament. His comrade could dc
nothing for him at the time His
own gas supply was only sufficient
to get him back to an airport. He
had to keep on. Hymels fuel was
entirely exhausted when he came
over land and the only thing to dc
was to set the plane down on the
first level plot he could find.
AS soon as the craft hit the
ground the wheels sank inches
into the mud It was neal
miracle the plane did not turn over
The field was very small. Hyne
stopped within 300 feet. Just a foot
or so short of crashing into a high
stone wall.
There he was trapped. II Hat
tendorf got in safely. he assumed
help would be sent, but he didn
see how 1t could do him any gooc
because any landing near him woulc
be impossible. He sat and waited
In about a half hour the RAF plane
dispatched from the nearest British
field where Hattendorf had re.
ported, was seen circling overhead
The pilot was seeking some place tc
land, but apparently could not spot
anything. Finally he did the only
thing possible-swooped to about
100 feet of the ground several times
and at the bottom Of each swoor
kicked out several 5-gallon tin cans
of gas. There were 20 In all. Only
l was broken.
/ Hymel now had plenty of gas
but the plane was stuck In the mud
There was not a chance in a hun.
dred he would be able to get il
off the ground. He finally did. how
ever, at a ground speed through the
mud of about 95 miles an hour. He
was barely able to clear the walls
of the field and the olive trees
beyond them.