Evening star., 1948-09-05
Bendix
Continued From First Page

was on hand to great her with a
mighty kiss, which they readily re-
peated for photogra pliers.
The famous woman flyer had no
complaint about the trip, but made
it clear she was disappointed with
the third place.
I'm mad" she said. II wanted to
win"
The field was one of the smallest
since the Bendx was started in 1881,
but speeds were double those of the
early years.
Fourth place went to Edmund T.
Lunken of Cincinnati, who averaged
AL 594 mph. Fifth and last place
was handed to Jesse F. Stallings. Of
Nashville, Tenn, flying a British
mosquito bomber, the only foreign
plane in the race
The sixth. entry in the BendiX,
Joseph DeBona of Beverly Hills,
Calf. who was flying the plane OF
Jimmy Stewart, the movie actor, was
forced down at Norwalk, Ohio. He
left Long Beach with leak in the
tire of a rear wheel of the plane.
Stallings. averaging only 341.12
miles an hour, said he had to slow
down to conserve fuel because of
head winds.
The first four places were won
bv North American F-51 Mustangs,
three of them entered by Glenn
McCarthv, Houston oil man.
The jet division of the BendiX,
flown this year for theI first time
by the Navy, turned up an average
of 4S9 1925 mph. The first pilot in
was Ensign F. E. Brown of Fort
Atkinson, Wis. flying a North Amer
ican FIJI Fury, carrier based
fighter with full complement of
guns and ammunition.
Lands Out of Fuel.
He landed out of fuel after finish
ing. His speed compared with the
507 miles an hour average made in
1947 by Col. Leon w. Gray in an
Air Force Lockheed F-8O Shooting
Star.
The Navy jets, however, were full
ly armed, while the Air Force jets
in the race last year did not carry
guns.
In second place was 1t. Comdr.
Evan P. Aurand, Coronado, Calf,
with a speed of 484674 mp.h. 1t.
Eugene r. Hanks. Palm City, Calf :,
who also landed with dead engine
after he crossed the finish line, was
third and Ensign Robert Oeschlin,
West Hampstead, N. Y, was fourth.
1t. Comdr. r. M. Elder, Milwaukee,
Greg, came in out of fuel for dead
stick landing and failed to cross
the finish line. He was disqualified.
Another jet flyer. 1t. Anthony
Capriotti of Philadelphia, didn't
quite make it to Cleveland. He was
forced to land at Tifin, Ohio.
Two California Air National
Guard F,80 C's, flying without for
NAL entry, also took off from Long
Beach, but only one completed the
course.
1t was piloted by Maj Robert De
Haven of Los Angeles, who had an
indicated unofficial time of approxi-
mateiy hours and S minutes for
an average speed of about 400 m III.
Guns and excess equipment had
been stripped from the plane and
the~ flight was not recognized by
race officials.
The other National Guard plane,
flown by Capt. Robert Love of San
Berbardino, Calf, landed in Chi
cago because of lack of fuel.
An Air Force jet training plane
tried to fly the Bendix course nom
stop yesterday, but landed at Denver
when its wing tanks failed to feed
into the engine properly. The plane
came on later and was shown to
the air race crowd.
/ Gas Tanks Empty.
Three Of the five Navy jets which
reached Cleveland landed with
empty gas tanks. The fighters car
ried wing tip tanks nearly double
ordinary size to give them the range
for the long flight.
The Bendix is the traditional
opening day feature of the National
Air Races. This year something
new was to be added-an attempt at
a new world speed record by an Air
Force North American F-86 fighter.
Poor visibility caused postpone
ment until tomorrow.
! Maj. Richard L. johnson, 30-year-