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Show ADVENTURERS' CLUB J .,0 i V,V HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES CF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF' V z XSksw"' N "Hailing Out )Y'uh Dcntli' v,-;.; ny l i.ovn gibbons " . ruinous Heuclline Hunter HELLO, EVERYBODY: Adventure flics high in the air today, boys and drls ; , With Joseph Baltric of Brooklyn, N. Y. IIo wold yoUS like , ; to step out of a plane several thousand feet in the air with a parachute strapped on to your shivering body and then just as you started your first jump find that Fate had chosen you for an accident? V Wowl Wjint a UiriU! And how few live to tell of It! rve seen flvers " balloon observers "bail out" and. by golly, every time I see one drop into space I flunk I'm more frightened than the jumper I always hold my broath-in those few seconds before the chute opens-and then sigh with relief when the mereiful silk , spreads out, like a biff mushroom and floats gently down Joe Baltric was a student at the Air Corps School of Parachute Rig. , ; . ing when he was called upon to make the "live jump" that all ,tu dents make voluntarily before graduation. They call them "live lumps" : . in the air corps but Joe says his came very near being a dead one. Hanging From the Plane's Wing. ' j With four other students Joe took off from Chanute Field at Ran- ' toul, IU., on June 5, 1931, to make their "maiden" jumps The bovs ; j went up in five 0-38 planes, Joe says, flying in formation. The other four - . made their jumps without incident and Joe saw them all and thought it would be a cinch. When it came his turn, he swallowed the lump in his i throat, stepped into space and pulled the cord of the chute 7l Tne chute opened but instead of floating free in the air Joe ' felt a sudden tug and heard a ripping sound and looking up saw to n ( his horror that the shrouds had fouled the plane and he HUNG SUSPENDED FROM THE TIP OF THE PLANE'S WING! I . Any aviator knows what a desperate situation pilot and jumper were All now in. Joe saw that the parachute impeded the movement of the I "flipper" and knew at once that the plane could never land without : Joe Was Swinging Helplessly In Mid-Air. - a r that control. The pilot knew it, too. Of course, he could have jumped and saved himself but they don't do things like that in the air corps. Around and around the field went the paralyzed plane with Joe swinging helplessly in mid-air. Joe, for the life of him, couldn't figure how he could possibly escape with his life. Even if the plane did make a landing he was certain to be dashed to death on the hard ground and he saw that his chute was so damaged that it would no longer support ; him. --'! Well, sir, down on the ground those hard-boiled flyers had seen ; 7 the predicament of flyer and jumper and were getting their heads together. Joe could see them rushing around and finally he saw a . plane take off. It didn't give him much hope though because he . - couldn't figure what they could do for him. So he just hung there and waited for death. Looked Like a Sure Crash. i The worst of it was, Joe could see that his plane was gradually los- tog height only the powerful "Conqueror" engine was keeping it from :r-v crashing. The pilot was having his hands full keeping the ship up as . .- Joe's body cut down the speed in half. And Joe, meantime, was swinging crazily around and around like a top on a string and getting so "- seasick that he didn't care what happened. " It seemed to take hours for that other plane to come alongside of ; y them but, when it did, Joe says, he felt a lot better. Somebody had ".V chalked "follow me" on the fuselage of the other plane and Joe's pilot was doing the best he could to obey. Joe recognized the flyers in the . second plane they waved encouragement to him and he waved back ; a last salute to the dead! . Ordered to Cut Loose. 3-1 The other plane maneuvered into a position above Joe and the man , in the rear cockpit started lowering something on a string. Joe couldn't '"' make out what it was for a few minutes he was swinging so but, as the object came nearer, he saw that it was a butcher knife. r. THAT MEANT ORDERS TO CUT HIMSELF LOOSE! A piece of delicate flying followed as the pilot of the plane above tried to bring the swinging knife within Joe's reach. Joe grabbed at it several times and then an air current would snatch it from him. ,, . tl It seemed to Joe that this went on for hours it did last for over half an hour when finally the knife struck Joe in the chest and he grabbed it and held on. The string broke and floated away. IT WAS UP TO f:Jh HIM NOW. CU Joe held the knife firmly and looked at the shrouds of his chute. 'A ' "Shrouds" was a good name for those cords, he thought, then he rf ' raised his arm held his breath and drew the sharp knife across them, jj-; . The strands parted. Joe fell. Tf','-' Down, down,-down, his body shot straight for the earth. As he turned ff,f over and over in his fall Joe could see the hangars beneath him. He ; mumbled a little prayer. . . 7 And then, boys and girls, Joe pulled the cord of his emergency chute and floated safely to Mother Earth. Come to think of it, I guess I didn't mention before that he had a i second chute but you see Joe didn't mention it either until the end of his y story and I well, I thought it was a secret. . Copyright. WNU Service. |