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Show K . , , . , , " - iH K iiiiji 1 1 M -i 7TniMMy-jiBMiMMiPwarsnnraiMBlTiBMBMfBaMMMiiiiiiMi 1 1 1 1 ii ijiMMiLiiiiMiiiiMMM-nBM'xrji. a. TTT"T-i.''-"a raify" - ' H El sipbipi 1 IIwAaJS Ik L VnHI HI bism H 1 1 HSI SHBrAIHjA wi Elk 1 1 n I H LffSgSlKgJlfeBMMlBBBgBBBMMBBBBBMMt I. Middle West j : Will Be Visited J j I Unexpectedly by Aviator Thompson, , "Who Terrorizes Cities Under Cover of Dark-: Dark-: ness in His Campaign. ! ., : ' u ! -dMiw MSSMf6W, " Vv. VPlllffli THOMPSON ' iS ' r CITIES of the Middle WeM arc next on Avtator Dc Lloyd Thompson's schedule. The daring youns (licr who. witliln a week, "sittaclced" both Washington and New York with nrcworks bo'mbB under cover of darkness, la keeping Becret his plan of campaign. Ho de sires that his "raids" shall be wholly of a sur-priso sur-priso nature, and accordingly has adopted as concerns his Intentions for the future a true militaristic silence. "PreparodneES lessons" Thompson terms hie Bpcctacular night flights. "Publicity 3tunt" Is tho ugly word some newspapers have- applied to his air boJoutiis and Incident "bombardments." "bombard-ments." But Thompson's Is not a purpose of publicity, but a demonstration of what an air fleet mlsht do to American cities In a aeries of Burprlae nttacks. About twenty raids are to bo made. In theso tho bird man 1b backed by a group of wealthy preparedness advocates whom ho Interested In his schomo to awaken the 5 population of tho larger cities of tho United States to their absolute Lack of protection from hostile aircraft. Stempsoa's aim to to dcgttcwao tk erfr vmH bt the German on England and the Mxlai bombardments of cities and camps near the ) battle fronts In Europe. All unheralded, he ascends to a height of from 4000 to 6000 feet above tho city to bo attacked; this at about 0 o'clock at night. He seeks to do his raiding on ' moonless evenings so that his craft la undls- covcrablo savo for the gatllng-llke crack of the ' motor when ho Is In tho lower wind levels. "When he has reached his attacking height the reports from tho engine exhaust amount to but a humming sound, usually indistinct and often Inaudible from tho streets below with their un- r cea3lng traUlc noises. ' After circling about, getting the "lay of the j land" and locating his chief objects of attack-- ) , for ho endeavors to select several large bulld- Ings or prominent landmarks for several of hla i larger bombs ho releases a bomb or two and : maybe a star shell. Theso fall from 15O0 to 2000 feet before exploding. .Brilliant pyro- technics and loud detonations are locked up in X tho missiles, which he releases by electric push buttons in his sturdy llttlo tractor-biplane. Ills 5 ninoty-horso power, seven-cylinder motor shoots )l him through the air ' at a rate of speed of " clghty-ono miles an hour as ho releases his If bembs. I After discharging- his large bombs with Btartllng accuracy over hl3 chief objectives, he touches off at a time two magnesium flaroa which leave long streamers of light, fire and Kmoko behind his craft as he dives headlong, docs the backward "death-dip' then loops tho loop backward and forward and accomplishes other nerve-racking feats. Although ho starts , his flight unannounced. Thompson Is not lacking lack-ing for .spectators when he Is giving "his spectacular spec-tacular exhibitions. Thompson swept Washington fairly o(T its feet with his raid there. It was Ills initial attack, at-tack, and was such a surprise that the military authorities of the national capital took step3 Intending In-tending to prosecute. If possible, until they were advised of the nature of the flight. Tho ralijjir swept up and down the Mall, encircled the White Housy, treasury building and othor government structures, dropped sovoral Arc-works Arc-works bombs "on" tho Capitol and touched off his Hares and went through his death-dcfyln? repertoire above tho Washington Monument. Blase New York, a few days later, was convinced con-vinced of tho vulnerability of the world's largest' city from tho sky. Thompson, too, sol a considerable thrill from this flight. I Mm tractor, In many pieces, was taken to a temporary tem-porary hangar on Governor's Island In the harbor har-bor at dusk. Two hours after nightfall It had been assombled and was ready for the raid over the city. His explosives consisted of eight bomb salutes, such as arc llrcd from mortars at Fourth of July celebrations: one searchlight bomb, with a parachuto attached, such as aru usod on the French front by the Germans for Illuminating night attackers and objectives of attack, and, in addition to thcKe "star" shells, eighteen electclc showers for illuminating lh pathof tho aeroplane through tho sky. Tho start In theory from an enemy warship lying outside Sandy Hook was mado at 8:17 o'clock from the open space adjoining the sea wall of tho island. Practically all the oltlcer of the Eastern Division headquarters not In service in Mexico or on the Mexican border were gathered about the hangar. Charles H. Day, designer of the machine, was on hand. After a short run of about 100 feet on tho turf, tho blplano rose rapidly into the air over Buttermilk Channel, where the East und Hudson Hud-son rivers converge in tho bay off the Battery. After he had cleared the eyc-lovcl of the Manhattan Man-hattan 3ky lino, the attacker was wholly invisible. invisi-ble. Thompson made two circles for altltudo and then shot across tho Manhattan shore at South Forry, dropping two bombs and his "star" shell from above the Custom House. Further on, when ho saw tho Illuminated tower , of tho Woolworth Eulldlng underneath, ho pressed tho buttou which electrically released and Hrcd two more display missiles. The mechanism proved faulty,Jor, whllo one of tho bombs fell freo and detonated some 1B00 feet below him, the other sizzled on tho lower -wing of his machine, a few feet from tho cockpit whcreln-ho sat. Helpless, Thompson watched It for a minute, In terror most likely. .Thcu.it went off, ripping the thin mMM.. ' Sk tT0Wi k ov.i.iifc dJ the uufgs ami lusUagt. "ot knowing what damage had been done. u.. .-ivlttior hurriedly shut off his motor and th"-. tiorc oolly tested his controls. Ho found then: )n order, and so decided to go on with his flight. He set the engine going again, lighted tvo magnesium flares, and started a loop-the-loop with a daring 1000-foot headlong divo. After the precipitous, descent he turned upward and over. a.tul as ho did so great splinters from the cockpit, cock-pit, blown out by the bomb, were thrown Into his face. The frail wooden ribs of the pit hut, fortunately for Thompson, not the wing supports, sup-ports, had not survived the: blast. Thompson started up from his base at S-1T p. in. Before the clock In Trinity Church tower tolled 8:30 the building. In theory, had been demolished de-molished and tho Woolworth, Equitable and Whitehall buildings had ceased to be landmarks land-marks on Manhattan Island. Tho aviator promptly returned again to Gov- ernor's Island and affected a landing In tho dark without mishap or evon difficulty In a pace llttlo greater than tho aircraft runway deck of armored "mother ships' such as all great European nations have built and llko tho British and French aviatora used to advantage at tho Dardanelles. Within an hour after he put forth on his mission of "sowing theoretical death and destruction,' Thompson's machlno had been dissembled and was being packed for shipment to tho all-unsuspcctlng noxt. point of attack. "1 saw after my first loop tliat It was too risky business looping," said tho blrdman after he landed, "So I Just mado three loops and started back. I dropped the four other bombs on the way, two of them on tho Whitehall Building. Tho things I could have dono to llttlo old Broadway If those bombs had been real, or if I'd had a rapld-flro gun mounted! The wholo city was helpless, prostrate beneath mo. "But I surely thought for a moment, when those splinters were raining about my head, that. somebody had turned on an 'antiaircraft gun below and that I was under fire." Thompson Is a daring typo. He Is a tall, slim-' lngs of tho Federal Government. Evon In the dark, with every street and building light switched off, It would be easy to pick out theso ' structures by tho radical variance In their ar- i chltocturc. And razing them to the ground would bo a simple matter for a fairly -well-equipped 'air squadron." Only a' week before his flight at Washington, Washing-ton, Tliompson, over .tho plains of Hempstead, r D. I., broke tho world's altitude record by as- cending 14,000 feet. Thompson has a largo tractor which weighs 3100 pounds when fully loaded. It was with this machlno that ho exceeded ex-ceeded the old altltudo records of 11,400 feet. Aftor he has given the country Its fill of war thrills, the flier proposes to' outdo his own altltudo altl-tudo record at the iJompstcad flying field. He will be one of tho principal attractions at young -man ofthe dansant pattern. And, as a matter of fact, ho prefers to discussing ballroom ball-room feats to those of tho air. Ho says the day is not far distant when ho will make Vernon Castlo look to his laurels as a dancer. Laughingly, Laugh-ingly, Thompson remarked that ho ought to be a good dancer when It is taken Into consideration considera-tion that he has been dancing with death for five years, sinco first he started flying In SU Louis. "I want to show conclusively that our cltlc3 are entirely at tho morcy of any foreign foo well equipped with aeroplanes and trained fliers." fli-ers." said Thompson to the writer. "A forolgn fleet could approach within CO or 100 miles of our coast and then launch a fleet of aeroplanes that could journey over Now York, or Boston, or Philadelphia, Baltimore, or even Washington Washing-ton or cities' further Inland before they returned re-turned to tho waiting fleet. They could wreck any city of those named In an hour's flight and return safely. There would not even bo any danger to the attackers. "Wo havo In the wholo of tho United States not one antiaircraft gun, and we have no aeroplanes aero-planes or fliers stationed or In readiness to combat com-bat such an attack. Wo are powerless, Infantile, V In our helplessness. I mean only to demon- H strate our awful po3ltlon to tho public. I think H J havo accomplished my object both in Wash- H Ington and New York. "One branch of the military Bervlce I had H tipped off in advanco of my Intention to vlnit H Washington. Sq these army pcoplo had the H heavens illuminated with their mighty search H lights, but In vain. I could change my dlrec H tion and altltudo so rapidly as to shake off th H pursuit of tho llghta consistently. I was over H the city dropping bombs for half an hour and H during nine-tenths of that time T was buo- H ccssful In eluding tho .searchllghth. H "Then I completed my performance by light- H lng up my machlno and doing spirals and loopi over the Washington Monument. It was a Dim- plo matter to distinguish tho principal build tho Shccpshcad Bay Speedway on May 6 and 1 H for the aeroplane preparedness fund. Besides H dropping bombs at that time, Thompson will H give exhibitions of quick climbing, looping the H loop, flying upeido down, and will do a tall H and spiral drop, his most dangerous accom- H plishment. H Tills probably will mean that his raids on H cities will not be resumed until the second H week in May. The next city ho is to attack, H he admitted to the writer, would bo "a WcHt- cm city." Among tho eighteen cities ho has yet to visit probably arc: Chicago, St. Louis, H Boston, Cincinnati or Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Kansas City, Salt H Lake City, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Ore.; Loa H Angeles and San Francisco. B "What this country needs, and needs badly declared Thompson, "Is an appropriation of H about 230,000,000 or $40,000,000 for aviation. jH With this sum we could construct ari aeroplane H fleet and train aviators second to none In the H world. In addition to this we could built antl- H aircraft guns and erect searchlights of great H power along the coasts and at vantage points H lu the cities in danger of Invasion from tho sky. And, oh, It Is sorry to contemplate what Eng- H land could do to this country with aeroplanes jH Invading by way of Canada, not to speak of Japan or some other great nation -using Mex- JH ico for a supply base. H "T6day you could 'count on the fingers of H your hand the aviators in tho United States IH who are capablo of handling war planes. It H wtll take us many months to train men for war H flying. If we could cut out a few battleships J and use that money for aeroplanes wo would be better off, badly as we need additions to our H navy. I can go out in my little tractor and blow up the biggest battleship In our fleet H without the slightest trouble. H "I may be thought a dreamer, but I was J never morCeerlous in my life than when I do- H dare that within tho next five years we will J be able to cross the continent In thirty hours jH by aeroplane. To mako this posslblo wo will huve to have an aerial way across tho coun- jH try with sultablo landing stations every few H "A lot of statistical arguments have been H shown this country on tho subject of prepared- H ness and why we should build up a defense, but H today we aro no farther advanced than when H the campaign started. If only we could have a H real battle between two cruisers off Sandy Hook, In one of them, say tho type of foreign H boat that excols ours, would sink the Amer- jB lean with tho attending loss of life, everybody H would ravo and storm until our navy was mods HBVJ efficient In even' sense of the word. OBSJ BIRD'S EYE VJEW OfmEWYOI?K H "My flights over our cities, with harmless KVJ bombs, salutes and magnesium flares, which endangers no one but myself, aro Just as prao- KVJ tlcal demonstrations of a Zeppelin raid on Lon- J don or Paris as the sinking of the boat would HBV bo a representation of the North Sea battle or the ruin of tho city would represent the slcgo BSJ of Verdun. BV Let It be a warning inscription In the sky, QflYAl "Until wo are prepared." BYflYJ Thompson Is 29 years old and comes from jflHBV Washington, Pa. Ho began flying in St. Louis HYflYJ flvo years ago, a pupil of tho Bcnolst school HHBfll andlifs aerial thrills have been performed fros HflVflVJ to coasts, - UVAVJ |
