Evening star., 1949-09-06
0dom Crash Threatens
Disc0ntinuance OF
Thompson Air Race
Continued From First Page0

caught in the fire that destroyed
the house. Mr.. Laird and another
son, David, were playing outside
the house and were uninjured.
1t was Odom's first Try at the
$4,000 Thompson. Miss Cochran
chose Odom for his demonstrated
skill and courage. He had twice
set a round-the world speed rec
ord, the second time making it
alone in just over 73 hours. He
held the world distance record for
light planes at nearly 5000 miles,
flying from Honolulu to Teterboro.
N. j., his home port, on his second
attempt. And he had numerous
lesser achievements in log book
Plane Flipped Over.
Odom was in the second lap of
the race, having just passed the
grandstand, when he went down
within sight of two competitors.
They said he apeared to have
swerved to correct a course error
when his plane tipped on its bank
and dived virtually straight down.
Government aviation officials
began seeking the cause of the ac-
cident Immediately. but had no
answer after a preliminary look
at the Wreckaee.
One possible cause appeared to
be turbulence in the wake of the
two large racers ahead of Odom,
coupled with a strong cross wind
and his turn to head for the Nc.
3 pylon.
It was possible that he had
overcontrolled the plane in an eff
fort to- save seconds by getting
back quickly on course, and flip
ped over because of the tremen-
dous speed.
The plane was a magnif1cently
engineered modification of the
war-famous North American F-51
Mustang. The belly air scoop had
been removed and the radiators
put in nacelles on the wing tips,
giving the plane the appearance
of jet fighter. Odom flew it at
an average of 405 miles an hour
to qualify for the race, and said
he did not have it wide open.
Clelands new mark was the
last of a series established during
three days of competition. Rec
ords were pushed up in both the
propeller and jet divisions of the
Bendix cross-country races. the
Goodyear races for midget planes.
the Soho and Zimmerman Trophy
races and the jet division of the
Thompson.
Complaints Long Standing.
The Thompson is the traditional
classic of air races. But complaints
about the noise and danger came
from Berea residents even before
the resumption of the race in 1946
after seven years interruption for
the war. Eventually the course
was revised to make rough circle
around the community of 5000
which lies south of the airport and
southwest of Cleveland.
+, The Labor Day tragedy. killing
one of the Nations best known
flyers and two persons unconnect-
ed with the sport. brought an
emergency meeting of the Berea
Progressive Citizens League to
draft a protest to State. county
and nearby city officials.
The Thompson race has been
debated issue inside the daring
fraternity of pilots since its revival
because of the costs involved in
flying the heavy surplus warplanes
and the problems of flying them
at very high speeds around pylons.
Ben Franklin, air races general
manager, told the Professional
Racing pilots at their customary
post-meet session in 1946 that they
had better start thinking about a
new class of racer. Before the
war, the Thompson was flown with
planes built for the sport. He
suggested then, and repeated in
1s47 and 1948, that it would be
we'll to return to that pattern.
Talk of Limiting Planes.
There has been talk of having
a racing class limited to engines
of 500 cubic inch cylinder displace-
ment for the Thompson. This
would permit building racer for
O few thousand dollars. The sur
plus warplanes were bought for
3 little money, but their modif1ca-
ton and maintenance ran into
tens of thousands of dollars in
some cases.
Cleland was trailed across the
finish line by Ron Puckett OF
Lansdowne, Pa, with an average
of 1885 m.p.h., and Ben Nc
Killen of Willoughby, Ohio, with
1915 m.p.h. All three pilots
flew Corsairs, with engines capable
Of more than 1000 horsepower.
The big race climaxed day OF
record performance. Bill Bren-
nand of Oshkosh, Wis, started 1t
by winning $1,000 and the Good
year Trophy in the midget plane
races at an average of 17T3 mp. h.
1t. Walter C. Rev of the Cali
fornia Air National Guard fol-
lowed with 594s8 m.p.h. victory
in the Allison Trophy dash for
Air Force jets from Indianapolis
to Cleveland.
Capt. Bruce Cunningham of the
334th Fighter Group based at An
drews Air Base, Md, then turned
the 15-mile Thompson course at
an average of 586.1 m.ph. He
lost part of his tail assembly near
the finish, however, cut one pylong
and made an emergency landing.
The three-day show drew an
officially reported attendance Of