Show f ft t ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LII LIKE E YOURSELF Two Tivo Kinds of Death ELLO EVERYBODY IJ HELLO 1 This is the story of a man who had a choice to make a a choice between two ho kinds of death One of those deaths was certain certain and and unpleasant If he chose the other hed he'd at least have a chance But he chose the death that was unpleasant unpleasant and and certain certain certain tain Anthony A. A Hensler is his name and he lives in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York City Tony is an aviator and one day in the latter part of July 1927 he had a call from Andy Andrews who was then senior pilot at Curtis field out in Mineola l Andy wanted to get hold of somebody who could take a blimp up in the air and put it through test flights nights There v were here re few men available in the East at that time who knew enough to test fly a blimp and Tony Hensler was one of them And Andy asked him if U he would do the job Tony said it was all right with him and Andy took him to meet a 3 fellow named who owned the blimp The arrangements arrangements arrangements ar ar- ar- ar were made and Tony went to work no He did a n. little tinkering with the machinery and finally had the big gas bag whipped into shape for a first hop bop The department of commerce lays down certain rules by which various various va rious dous types of ot aircraft are tested and the rule in regard to blimps was that the first hop had to be a n fixed night flight That means that the blimp is sent aloft with a line attached to the ground so that if It anything goes wrong it cant can't get away float over the city and kill somebody or damage prop property crt in coming down Tony Decides on a Second Fixed Flight Tony made that fi fixed ed flight He adjusted the controls and centered the stabilization But just to make sure everything was in good shape he decided to make a second fixed ed flight a few days later while he checked those controls over again And three days later on the third of ol August he did make that fixed Died flight And it nearly fixed Tony for good Ton Tony climbed into the blimp all set for what he thought was going to be just another routine test in a captive balloon firmly anchored to the ground by a land line But Bat the trouble wasn't long longin in starting No sooner was the blimp in the air than the land line snapped and the big gas bag started shooting upward She went up to feet before I got the motor started Tony says sas but the motor a two-cylinder two speed high-speed motorcycle engine finally began to turn over nn and for a while everything went swelL But not for long I was just over Manhattan with my spirits as high as my ship rl i ir r They were creating a wind ind of oC their own that was slowly turning the blimps blimp's nose around when things began to happen And wha what I mean everything happened at once My controls began to go sour The big bag began to hog badly And to make matters worse a large hole appeared in the nose of the ship I shut of off the motor for fear of an explosion I had carried cubic feet of ot hydrogen when I left the airport and if it a motor spark ever ver got into any of that leaking gas gns it would blow me and the blimp to bits The ship was losing altitude fast The city seemed a long way down but it was getting closer with alarming speed And then Tony took a n. desperate chance dId chance Sid Id the only thing he could to save himself and avoid crashing on a tall building or in a crowded New York fork street Ho He climbed out on the narrow catwalk catwalk cat cat- walk and pulled on the foremost suspension cords doubling the cloth over the hole hofe in the bags bag's nose to prevent any more hydrogen leaking out of the balloon lS ti Si The Blimp Wallowed Helplessly in Midair Mid After securing those ropes he says I felt a little better for I Ithen Ithen Ithen then knew that the ship wouldn't crash in the crowded city But I still didn't dare start the motor and the blimp was wallowing helplessly in mid air And what was worse still the wind was carrying me out to sea And right there was where Tony had to make his choice his choice his choice between two kinds of ot death There was a slim chance that he might bring that big bag down safely in in- crowded New York On the other side of the picture was the prospect of blowing far out to sea and drowning in the Atlantic Drowning wasn't a pleasant thought It would be much better b to try and make a landing in New York York for for Tony But what about those other people there down those those scurrying humans that looked like ants as they crawled along the crowded streets If U Tony landed among them there was a pretty good chance that a lot of them would be killed So Tony made his choice and he be chose the sure unpleasant death rather than taking a n. fighting chance and perhaps killing someone else He lie sat still and did nothing while the wind carried him out to sea seal Tony Recognizes a Woman Pilot Out across New v York harbor he floated out floated out toward Sandy Hook and the ocean ocean and and his And then from over toward the Jersey shore Tony saw two planes coming in his direction As they neared him he recognized one It was the plane of Thea Rasch the famous German woman pilot The two planes came closer and closer They couldn't take Tony ort off that blimp hi Ln mid In fact It didn't look as though there was much they could do but stand by or return to the airport airport air- air i port from Crom which they had bad come and send help But Tony wasn't counting on the ingenuity of Thea Rasch She headed straight Corthe for Cor forthe forthe the blimp until Tony thought she was going to crash into it until it-until until he be could feel the wind of the plane piano as It dived under him The Theother Theother other plane followed suit They were creating a wind of their own that that- was slowly turning the blimps blimp's nose around pointing around pointing it back to land About that time too the wind that was blowing him out to sea shifted to another quarter Aided by tha that and by the two planes Tony finally landed at College Point L. L I I. I and there he was met by a crowd that would pack the Yankee stadium including the College Point police reserves Nope Nape I wasn't locked up says Tony But if It It hadn't been for forthe forthe forthe the backwash of ot those two planes Id I'd have blown out to sea and never found again Released by Western Newspaper er Union |