Famous Flyers

uches to their own equipment. Stout boots, fishing lines, flies, everything on their lists was gradually being checke

et it over with," said Bob. "We ha

ust because you've made a solo flight doesn't mean that you're wing

t," said the Captain. "I've heard some

l begin. And I won't take so long, either. I'm not one of

on." This fro

olittle. Beg pardon, maybe I had better say Lieutenant Commander Frank Hawks of the United States Naval Reserve, the holder of some 30 inter-city aviation records, etcetera, etcetera;

much inspiration for flying out there. But maybe all that flat prairie was just so much inspiration to get away from it all, and get up into the air. A

ry tender age, my lads, our friend Frank Hawks was playing children's parts in Minneapolis. But then the family moved to Calif

rs, who were pretty great shakes in those days, and pioneers in flying, set up a shop on the beach outside Frank's home town. They took up passe

f the Christoffersons. 'I'm from the newspaper, Mr. Christofferson,' he says, 'and I'd like an interview with you.' And he interviewed him just as serious as you please, with Christofferson pleas

future career. Aviation got a recruit and Christofferson waited a lo

or that ride and other rides by working around the flying field. It was then he learned to fly. But business was not too good, and the brothers moved on. Frank

good for his own good. They never sent him to France, where he wanted to go. Instead, they made him an instructor,

round the country, taking people up on flights, stunting, flying in air circuses, balloon jumping, and doing anything they could to make money with their tubs. Some of these planes were no more than old junk, and the flyers no m

mmon. But-there were people down in Mexico who had never seen a plane, much less flown in one, so down to Mexico went Hawks. He gave. Mexico plenty of thrills, and Mexico gave him some, too. The country was unsettled at the time,

on fields with arsenic to kill the boll weevils. He worked in the oil fields, too, as a driller. It was good experience for him. They found out that he

r ship to the Spirit of St. Louis, and flew across the country to greet Lindbergh when he came back.

country's richest oil companies, as their technical flying expert. He advised them in buying

p-motored Lockheed Air Express monoplane at the manufacturers' in Los Angeles, and it had to be flown to

This was in 1929. Of course, its being 1929 didn't make it any harder, but I just thought I ought to tell you what year it was. The start from Los Angeles wasn't bad. He had a mechanic with him to keep filling the gasoline engines,

looked back. There was Oscar, sprawled out, fast asleep. But he woke up. Pretty lucky for Oscar Grubb that he did, and typical Hawks luck. The tanks were filled, and on they flew through the murk and fog. The fog cleared a little when they got to Kentucky, but Hawks didn't know where he was, anyway. It wa

in Los Angeles in the evening. Seven hours later he turned back and in 17? hours more he was back again at Roosevelt field. It was dark coming down, and he broke

. In July everybody began to hear about the 'mystery ship' that was being built for him. It was a monoplane. On August 6th, it was a my

t sun and got into Los Angeles before it had set, or just about 10 minutes before 6 o'clock in the evening. He'd beaten dat ol' dav

to gliders. And gliders are important in aviation. And then, if towed gliders are practical, they might solve the problem of carrying pay loads in cross-country flights. The glider could be loaded up, hitched to an airplane, and go

ctims. They covered 57 cities in 17 days, which meant a lot of work, because they put on a show wherever they stopped. Hawks, with his stage experience behind hi

landed than he started to break their records, too. The first one to fall was the speed record from London to Berlin, a distance, of 600 miles, which he made in 2 hours and 57 minutes. This was ju

, or kidneys, at the Croydon Field. That was about 9:30. He left Croydon for Berlin, and got there 3 hours and 20 minutes later, in time for lunch at the Tempelhof Airdrome. He flew back to Paris, for tea at Le Bo

tea in London. He'd made the round trip in 9 hours and 44 minutes, actual flying time. Of course, a man has to take time out to eat. Getting to Rome and back meant that he'd beaten the Alps twice. He enjoyed that tr

te to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 13 hours and 44 minutes. That was called his famous three-flag flight. It was a grand flight, too, and the first of its kind to be flown in one day. It wasn'

lled out of that all right. Flying fast was no more dangerous than flying slowly, if a man could handle his plane. What the country needed was speed and more speed, and Hawks gave it to them. It helped, too. The whole commercial system i

ow whether we should take his word for it or not. He may be prejudiced. Anyway, he's one of the best liked flyers in the coun

ying plane to the government. The Chilean government was pretty particular. It wanted only the best, so it decided to have five countries compete in

, and good fellows, got very jolly, and decided that each of them would have to put on a stunt to entertain the others. Now Doolittle decided that his best bet was acrobatics, so he balanced on the window ledge, to show his best handstands and other tricks

strapped his feet to the rudder bar, and he was all set to go into his act. Only the German plane was in the air. Doolittle zoomed up, and there followed one of the prettiest dog fights that anyone there had ever seen. Doolittle maneuvered and be

n a gold camp in Alaska in those days, it would be hard to find. Jimmie was born in Alameda. California, in 1896. His father was a carpenter and mi

pped fighting after that first fight. Maybe it was because he was so small that he had to fight. Anyway, he usually was fighting boys bigger than hi

son, and I imagine the Klondike parents breathed a little easier. In California Jimmie w

eweight for some practice. Jimmie knocked him out. And he knocked out the second middleweight, and the third middleweight. So the coach, seeing that he had struck gold, entered Jimmie in the match with Stanford, but in the middleweight class. The crowd roared when th

ng engineer. I might say a word about Jim and Jo. They're known as the inseparables. They're always together. They've got two kids, who are thirteen and el

er to an instructor by the name of Todd. They were still on the ground, when they heard a crash, then another crash. Two planes had collided in the air. First one dropped, then t

made for him. He didn't have any grudge against that soldier, just against the world. But that soldier had to bear the brunt. Jimmie swooped down on him. The soldier wouldn't move out of the way or flatten out. Jimmie swooped closer and closer. The soldier stood his ground. Finally Jimmy came so close that his wheels nicked the soldier, and down he went. And away fle

iego. On his first attempt at a take-off one of his wheels struck some soft sand, and over he turned, being thrown into t

degree from the University of California, and then he went to Boston with Jo, and entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With Jo's help he di

planes for Curtiss to 21 European governments. He's a marvellous tester. He got the D.F.C. for his transcontinental flight. In 1925 he got the Schn

on, testing instruments to be used for blind flying. He also tested the stress and strain that flying has on the human body. He would go into r

airport. His time to Cleveland was 9 hours and 10 minutes, an average speed of 223 miles per hour. As if that wasn't enough, he flew back to St. Louis to sleep, making a trip of 3,300 miles in 19 hours. He'd broken Hawks' record then standing. Both the boys are still going strong. You never knew when you're